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James E McKenna, Jr., PhD

James E McKenna, Jr. is a Research Ecologist based in Cortland, NY.

Dr. James E. McKenna, Jr. is a Research Ecologist with the Tunison Laboratory of Aquatic Science (TLAS, USGS/GLSC) in Cortland, NY. He has an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island. He came to Central New York after studying fish community and fisheries issues in the Antarctic and Florida. He has conducted research on Great Lakes ecosystems, including Great Lake tributaries, and the St. Lawrence River for the past 18 years. He is a Principal Investigator for the Great Lakes Regional Aquatic Gap Analysis Project. His recent work includes extensive examination and modeling of the fish and benthic invertebrate assemblages and species distribution in Lake Ontario and throughout the Great Lakes Basin.
 

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Science pages by this scientist

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Male atlantic salmon showing a kype in lower jaw

Aquatic Native Species and Habitat Restoration: Restoring native freshwater fish populations

USGS is working to help restore Atlantic salmon, bloater and cisco populations in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River as part of the Coregonid Restoration effort. These three key species of the native Lake Ontario fish community are extirpated (Atlantic salmon and bloater) or are at low levels of former abundance (cisco).
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Aquatic Native Species and Habitat Restoration: Restoring native freshwater fish populations

USGS is working to help restore Atlantic salmon, bloater and cisco populations in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River as part of the Coregonid Restoration effort. These three key species of the native Lake Ontario fish community are extirpated (Atlantic salmon and bloater) or are at low levels of former abundance (cisco).
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View of Mount Ascutney, Connecticut River, and Cornish-Windsor Bridge

NorEaST: A Tool to Understand the Responses of Fish to Changes in Stream Temperature

Climate change is expected to alter stream temperature and flow regimes over the coming decades, and in turn influence distributions of aquatic species in those freshwater ecosystems. To better anticipate these changes, there is a need to compile both short- and long-term stream temperature data for managers to gain an understanding of baseline conditions, historic trends, and future projections.
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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NorEaST: A Tool to Understand the Responses of Fish to Changes in Stream Temperature

Climate change is expected to alter stream temperature and flow regimes over the coming decades, and in turn influence distributions of aquatic species in those freshwater ecosystems. To better anticipate these changes, there is a need to compile both short- and long-term stream temperature data for managers to gain an understanding of baseline conditions, historic trends, and future projections.
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Data releases by this scientist

Abiotic data collected in the St. Lawrence River and several tributaries in and adjacent to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe reservation in northern New York, 2004

This data set includes the sample site locations, site descriptions, and abiotic data used in the analyses reported in McKenna et al. 2008. The data represent selected abiotic conditions within the St. Lawrence and lower reaches of four US tributaries during 2004. Samples were collected from shallow, seinable areas (less than 1.5 m) of the St. Lawrence River, adjacent wetland channels, and the low
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Great Lakes Science Center

Survival and ancillary data associated with Cisco acoustic tagging experiment conducted in 2018 and 2019

These data include survival information for Cisco in the laboratory for up to 30 days after surgical implantation of two different sizes of Lotek acoustic tags. Three-hundred fish of a range of sizes were used for the implantation and controls of this experiment, which was repeated three time. Ancillary data of surgical condition, recovery, and time until death or tag expulsion were also recorded,
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Great Lakes Science Center

Taxonomic composition of environmental DNA acquired by filtration from the St. Regis River, New York

Environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys have become important tools for monitoring aquatic biodiversity. Barcode sequencing of eDNA generates community profiles that, while potentially biased in both capture and amplification, can nonetheless yield high information content per unit cost. While factors affecting eDNA capture and amplification have been heavily studied, watershed-scale assessments of fish
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Fort Collins Science Center

Genetic species identification of larval Coregonines from Chaumont Bay (New York), Lake Ontario

Location, occurrence, collection information, and genetic species identification data in support of an analysis of the spatial separation of Lake Whitefish and Cisco larvae in Chaumont Bay, Lake Ontario, the last known spawning area of both species in American waters of Lake Ontario. Genetic species identification of larval coregonines collected between April 2004 and 2015 is provided for larval s
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Great Lakes Science Center

Bee-Gap: Ecology, Life-History, and Distribution of Bee Species in the United States 2017

Bee-Gap describes the ecology, life-history, and distribution of 3,925 bee species in the United States that have geographical data and verified taxonomy. The database was constructed by compiling information from a broad range of internet sources and peer-reviewed journal articles. The 10 traits included in the database are: native status (native versus exotic/introduced), state and territory pre
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Great Lakes Science Center

Hydrospatial Framework for the Laurentian Great Lakes

This data release provides the georeferenced boundaries that delimit each spatial unit of the Great Lakes Regional Aquatic Gap Analysis Project (GLGap) Coastal Hydrospatial Framework at each spatial scale from the local 90m cell to the entire Laurentian Great Lakes system and from the shoreline to the deepest offshore waters. The U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collab
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Great Lakes Science Center

Metagenetic analysis of stream community composition based on environmental DNA

A survey of environmental DNA was performed in Tunison Creek downstream of the USGS Tunison Aquatic Laboratory. The goal of the survey was to characterize the source ecological community at multiple trophic or taxonomic levels by associating DNA fragments with reference databases. Three taxonomically informative genetic loci were used: the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 locus, the mitochondria
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Fort Collins Science Center

FishVis, predicted occurrence and vulnerability for 13 fish species for current (1961 - 1990) and future (2046 - 2100) climate conditions in Great Lakes streams.

Climate change is expected to alter the distributions and community composition of stream fishes in the Great Lakes region in the 21st century, in part as a result of altered hydrological systems (stream temperature, streamflow, and habitat). Resource managers need information and tools to understand where fish species and stream habitats are expected to change under future conditions. Fish sample
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Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Publications by this scientist

Filter Total Items: 66

Decision support for aquatic restoration based on species-specific responses to disturbance

Disturbances to aquatic habitats are not uniformly distributed within the Great Lakes and acute effects can be strongest in nearshore areas where both landscape and within lake effects can have strong influence. Furthermore, different fish species respond to disturbances in different ways. A means to identify and evaluate locations and extent of disturbances that affect fish is needed throughout t
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Results of the collaborative Lake Ontario bloater restoration stocking and assessment, 2012–2020

Bloater, Coregonus hoyi, are deepwater planktivores native to the Laurentian Great Lakes and Lake Nipigon. Interpretations of commercial fishery time series suggest they were common in Lake Ontario through the early 1900s but by the 1950s were no longer captured by commercial fishers. Annual bottom trawl surveys that began in 1978 and sampled extensively across putative bloater habitat only yielde
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Ecological status of Onondaga Creek in Tully Valley, New York; summer 1998

No abstract available.
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Water Resources Mission Area, New York Water Science Center

Acoustic tag retention and tagging mortality of juvenile cisco Coregonus artedi

Release of hatchery-reared juvenile cisco (Coregonus artedi) is an important tool for recovering Great Lakes populations, but post-release survival is unknown. Telemetry using small acoustic tags provides opportunities to assess the efficacy of hatchery-reared fish releases. However, better understanding of the tolerance of juvenile cisco to acoustic tags is needed. Juvenile cisco mortality and ta
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Great Lakes Science Center

Composition and distribution of fish environmental DNA in an Adirondack watershed

BackgroundEnvironmental DNA (eDNA) surveys are appealing options for monitoring aquatic biodiversity. While factors affecting eDNA persistence, capture and amplification have been heavily studied, watershed-scale surveys of fish communities and our confidence in such need further exploration.MethodsWe characterized fish eDNA compositions using rapid, low-volume filtering with replicate and control
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center, Great Lakes Science Center

Habitat characterization and species distribution model of the only large-lake population of the endangered Silver Chub (Macrhybopsis storeriana, Kirtland 1844)

The endangered Silver Chub (Macrhybopsis storeriana, Kirtland 1844) is native to North America and primarily riverine, with the only known large‐lake population in Lake Erie. Once a major component of the Lake Erie fish community, it declined and became nearly extirpated in the mid‐1900s. Recent collections in western Lake Erie suggest that Silver Chub may be able to recover, but their habitat and
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Does fecundity of cisco vary in the Upper Great Lakes?

Fecundity of fish is influenced by several factors, including body length, condition, population density, and environmental conditions. It follows that fecundity of fish populations can exhibit spatiotemporal variability; thus, periodic quantification of length–fecundity relationships is important for management. We hypothesized that average fecundity of Cisco Coregonus artedi in the upper Laurent
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Spatial segregation of cisco (Coregonus artedi) and lake whitefish (C. clupeaformis) larvae in Chaumont Bay, Lake Ontario

Abstract Two of the remaining coregonine species in Lake Ontario, cisco (Coregonus artedi) and lake whitefish (C. clupeaformis), spawn in Chaumont Bay, NY. Larvae co-occur in the spring but are difficult to distinguish morphologically. We applied genetic species identification using microsatellite DNA loci of 268 larvae from known locations in nearshore and offshore habitats in Chaumont Bay to det
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

The Laurentian Great Lakes: A case study in ecological disturbance and climate change

Climate change effects are already significant, but can also magnify other ecological problems. This can be clearly seen in the Laurentian Great Lakes, which have suffered habitat degradation, fishery overharvest and dramatic alterations by invasive species. Thermal changes are expected to cause extensive loss of suitable fish habitat, and changing precipitation patterns will aggravate the problem
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

An experimental comparison of composite and grab sampling of stream water for metagenetic analysis of environmental DNA

Use of environmental DNA (eDNA) to assess distributions of aquatic and semi-aquatic macroorganisms is promising, but sampling schemes may need to be tailored to specific objectives. Given the potentially high variance in aquatic eDNA among replicate grab samples, compositing smaller water volumes collected over a period of time may be more effective for some applications. In this study, we compare
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Great Lakes coastal fish habitat classification and assessment

Basin-scale assessment of fish habitat in Great Lakes coastal ecosystems would increase our ability to prioritize fish habitat management and restoration actions. As a first step in this direction, we identified key habitat factors associated with highest probability of occurrence for several societally and ecologically important coastal fish species as well as community metrics, using data from t
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Measuring and evaluating ecological flows from streams to regions: Steps towards national coverage

Living aquatic communities are largely determined and maintained by the volume and quality of flowing waters, both within lotic systems and in receiving waters of coastal systems. However, flow is one of the most frequently and extensively altered features of rivers and streams; alteration effects are likely to be exacerbated by climate change. Lotic systems vary and different fish species need di
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

McKenna J.E.Jr. 1991. Trophic relationships of Antarctic demersal fish through gut content analysis. Fishery Bulletin. 89:643-654
McKenna J.E.Jr. 1993. Spatial structure and temporal continuity of the South Georgian Antarctic fish community. Fishery Bulletin 91:475-490
McKenna J.E.Jr., Saila S.B. 1989. Results of Fish Stock Assessment Survey, South Georgia, December 1987 - January 1988. Selected Publications of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, vol. II (SC-CAMLR-VII/BG/23).
McKenna J.E.Jr., Saila S.B. 1991. Application of an objective method for detecting changes in fish communities: Samar Sea, the Philippines. Asian Fisheries Science. 4:201-210.
McKenna J.E.Jr., Saila S.B. 1991. Shifts in the Antarctic demersal fish community of South Georgia. Fisheries Research. 12:109-124.

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

News about this scientist

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GLSC Presents at New York Chapter American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting

American Fishery Society New York Chapter Meeting

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GLSC Contributes to Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting (JASM)

The Consortium of Aquatic Science Societies (CASS) sponsors this as to bring together a wealth of subject matter experts for educational opportunities...

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GLSC Works with NY State DEC to Release and Study Cisco in Lake Erie

Tunison Lab works with NYDEC to release acoustically tagged cisco in Lake Erie.

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McKenna, Dittman Present at New York AFS Annual Meeting

Presentation to the New York Chapter of the American Fisheries Society

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McKenna Presents at Dynamic Environmental-Flow Endpoints Workshop

Addressing drought and habitat modification

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