Anthropogenic factors coupled with increased stochastic weather events (e.g., flood and drought) has caused stream temperatures to increase. Due largely to increased stream temperature, brook trout currently occupy only 70% of their historical distribution and regional models predict further range contraction as stream temperatures continue to increase.
Matthew O'Donnell
Matt is a Research Ecologist at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center at the S. O. Conte Research Laboratory in Turners Falls, MA.
Matt's research focuses on factors that influence population persistence of stream salmonids. In particular, Matt is examining the importance of coldwater refugia, thermal acclimation, and adaptation as a possible mechanisms for brook trout to persist in warming streams. In the field, he leads a project where wild brook trout are implanted with temperature recording tags to determine what water temperature fish actually experience. In the lab, he leads experiments where brook trout are being reared under ambient and increased thermal regimes for successive generations to examine the potential scope for thermal acclimation within generations and adaptation across generations.
Professional Experience
2018-present: Research Ecologist, USGS, Leetown Science Center, Conte Anadromous Fish Research Lab, Turners Falls, Massachusetts
2002-2018: Ecologist, USGS, Leetown Science Center, Conte Anadromous Fish Research Lab, Turners Falls, Massachusetts
2000-2002: Marine Resource Scientist I, Maine Department of Marine Resources, Hallowell, Maine
1999-2000: Biologist I, Mass Wildlife, Westborough, Massachusetts
Education and Certifications
M.S. Fisheries Conservation, UMASS-Amherst, 2000.
B.S. Wildlife and Fisheries Biology and Management, Fisheries option, UMASS-Amherst, 1995.
Science and Products
Understanding Brook Trout Persistence in Warming Streams
Anthropogenic factors coupled with increased stochastic weather events (e.g., flood and drought) has caused stream temperatures to increase. Due largely to increased stream temperature, brook trout currently occupy only 70% of their historical distribution and regional models predict further range contraction as stream temperatures continue to increase.
River channel response to the removal of the Pilchuck River Diversion Dam, Washington State
Relating absolute abundance of an estuarine fish to habitat area in an urbanizing environment
Identifying mechanisms underlying individual body size increases in a changing, highly seasonal environment: The growing trout of West Brook
Testing assumptions in the use of PIT tags to study movement of Plethodon salamanders
Cohort strength and body size in co-occurring salmonids in a small stream network: Variation in space and time
How repeatable is CTmax within individual brook trout over short- and long-time intervals?
Survival and density of a dominant fish species across a gradient of urbanization in North Carolina tidal creeks
Daily estimates reveal fine-scale temporal and spatial variation in fish survival across a stream network
Three visualization approaches for communicating and exploring PIT tag data
Implanting 8-mm passive integrated transponder tags into small Brook Trout: Effects on growth and survival in the laboratory
Keeping things local: Subpopulation Nb and Ne in a stream network with partial barriers to fish migration
Movement patterns of Brook Trout in a restored coastal stream system in southern Massachusetts
Non-USGS Publications**
**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.
Science and Products
- Science
Understanding Brook Trout Persistence in Warming Streams
Cold-water adapted Brook Trout were historically widely distributed – ranging from northern Quebec to Georgia, and from the Atlantic Ocean to Manitoba in the north, and along the Appalachian ridge in the south. However, studies show that due to factors associated with climate change, such as increased stream temperature and changing water flow, the number of streams containing Brook Trout is decli - Multimedia
Temperature recording tag being surgically implanted into brook troutTemperature recording tag being surgically implanted into brook trout
Anthropogenic factors coupled with increased stochastic weather events (e.g., flood and drought) has caused stream temperatures to increase. Due largely to increased stream temperature, brook trout currently occupy only 70% of their historical distribution and regional models predict further range contraction as stream temperatures continue to increase.
Anthropogenic factors coupled with increased stochastic weather events (e.g., flood and drought) has caused stream temperatures to increase. Due largely to increased stream temperature, brook trout currently occupy only 70% of their historical distribution and regional models predict further range contraction as stream temperatures continue to increase.
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 21
River channel response to the removal of the Pilchuck River Diversion Dam, Washington State
In August 2020, the 3-m tall Pilchuck River Diversion Dam was removed from the Pilchuck River, allowing free fish passage to the upper third of the watershed for the first time in over a century. The narrow, 300-m long impoundment reach behind the dam was estimated to hold 4,000-7,500 m3 of sand and gravel, representing less than one year’s typical bedload flux. A series of repeat cross section suAuthorsScott W. Anderson, Brett Shattuck, Neil Shea, M. Catherine Seguin, Matthew J. O'Donnell, Derek Marks, Natasha CoumouRelating absolute abundance of an estuarine fish to habitat area in an urbanizing environment
Organisms that rely on salt marsh habitat are an important trophic link, helping to maintain estuarine ecosystem productivity. We used GIS to quantify intertidal (assumed salt marsh) area from aerial photographs taken in 1939 and from software-supplied satellite imagery taken in 2021 for tidal creeks in North Carolina (USA) that have experienced minor (<20%), moderate (20-60%), or substantial (>60AuthorsPaul J. Rudershausen, Steven M. Lombardo, George R. Stilson, Matthew J. O'DonnellIdentifying mechanisms underlying individual body size increases in a changing, highly seasonal environment: The growing trout of West Brook
As air temperature increases, it has been suggested that smaller individual body size may be a general response to climate warming. However, for ectotherms inhabiting cold, highly seasonal environments, warming temperatures may increase the scope for growth and result in larger body size.In a long-term study of individual brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis and brown trout Salmo trutta inhabiting aAuthorsBenjamin Letcher, Keith Nislow, Matthew J. O'Donnell, Andrew R. Whiteley, Jason Coombs, Todd L. Dubreuil, Daniel TurekTesting assumptions in the use of PIT tags to study movement of Plethodon salamanders
Studying the movements of organisms that live underground for at least a portion of their life history is challenging, given the state of current technology. Passive integrated transponders (PIT tags) provide a way to individually identify and, more recently, study the movement of smaller animals, including those that make subterranean movements. However, there are widespread assumptions of the usAuthorsSean C Sterrett, Todd L. Dubreuil, Matthew J. O'Donnell, Adrianne Brand, Evan H. Campbell GrantCohort strength and body size in co-occurring salmonids in a small stream network: Variation in space and time
Trout and salmon commonly coexist in stream networks. Exploring similarities and differences among species can help explain coexistence and invasive ability. Here, we describe spatial distribution, cohort strengths and size-at-age of three co-occurring species in a small stream network. Spatial distributions varied dramatically among species; native brook trout occupied all stream reaches, naturalAuthorsBenjamin Letcher, Keith H. Nislow, Matthew O'Donnell, Andrew R. Whiteley, Jason A. Coombs, Todd L. DubreuilHow repeatable is CTmax within individual brook trout over short- and long-time intervals?
As stream temperatures increase due to factors such as heated runoff from impervious surfaces, deforestation, and climate change, fish species adapted to cold water streams are forced to move to more suitable habitat, acclimate or adapt to increased thermal regimes, or die. To estimate the potential for adaptation, a (within individual) repeatable metric of thermal tolerance is imperative. CriticaAuthorsMatthew J. O'Donnell, Amy M. Regish, Stephen D. McCormick, Benjamin H. LetcherSurvival and density of a dominant fish species across a gradient of urbanization in North Carolina tidal creeks
Development in the southeastern U.S. coastal plain generates the need for a better understanding of how demographics (survival and abundance) of estuarine nekton respond to urbanization. Apparent survival and density of the dominant Atlantic coast salt marsh fish, Fundulus heteroclitus, were estimated in four North Carolina tidal creeks using a model simultaneously fitted to mark-resight and markAuthorsPaul J Rudershausen, Joseph E Hightower, Jeffery A Buckel, Matthew J. O'Donnell, Todd Dubreuil, Benjamin H. LetcherDaily estimates reveal fine-scale temporal and spatial variation in fish survival across a stream network
Environmental drivers of population vital rates, such as temperature and precipitation, often vary at short time scales, and these fluctuations can have important impacts on population dynamics. However, relationships between survival and environmental conditions are typically modeled at coarse temporal scales, ignoring the role of daily environmental variation in survival. Our goal was to determiAuthorsEvan S. Childress, Keith Nislow, Andrew R. Whiteley, Matthew O'Donnell, Benjamin LetcherThree visualization approaches for communicating and exploring PIT tag data
As the number, size and complexity of ecological datasets has increased, narrative and interactive raw data visualizations have emerged as important tools for exploring and understanding these large datasets. As a demonstration, we developed three visualizations to communicate and explore passive integrated transponder tag data from two long-term field studies. We created three independent visualiAuthorsBenjamin H. Letcher, Jeffrey D. Walker, Matthew O'Donnell, Andrew R. Whiteley, Keith Nislow, Jason CoombsImplanting 8-mm passive integrated transponder tags into small Brook Trout: Effects on growth and survival in the laboratory
Passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags are commonly used to investigate relationships between individual fish and their environment. The recent availability of smaller tags has provided the opportunity to tag smaller fish. In this study, we implanted 8-mm PIT tags into small Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis (35–50 mm FL; 0.35–1.266 g) and compared tag retention, growth rates, and survival of PAuthorsMatthew J. O'Donnell, Benjamin H. LetcherKeeping things local: Subpopulation Nb and Ne in a stream network with partial barriers to fish migration
For organisms with overlapping generations that occur in metapopulations, uncertainty remains regarding the spatiotemporal scale of inference of estimates of the effective number of breeders () and whether these estimates can be used to predict generational Ne. We conducted a series of tests of the spatiotemporal scale of inference of estimates of Nb in nine consecutive cohorts within a long‐termAuthorsAR Whiteley, JA Coombs, Matthew O'Donnell, KH Nislow, Benjamin LetcherMovement patterns of Brook Trout in a restored coastal stream system in southern Massachusetts
Coastal Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations are found from northern Canada to New England. The extent of anadromy generally decreases with latitude, but the ecology and movements of more southern populations are poorly understood. We conducted a 33-month acoustic telemetry study of Brook Trout in Red Brook, MA, and adjacent Buttermilk Bay (marine system) using 16 fixed acoustic receiveAuthorsErin L. Snook, Benjamin H. Letcher, Todd L. Dubreuil, Joseph D. Zydlewski, Matthew J. O'Donnell, Andrew R. Whiteley, Stephen T. Hurley, Andy J. DanylchukNon-USGS Publications**
O’Donnell, M, N. Gray, G.Wippelhauser, and P. Christman. 2000. Restoring Our Native Fish Resources, Kennebec River Diadromous Fish Restoration, Annual Progress Report-2000. Maine Department of Marine Resources, Augusta, ME. 96pp.Gamble, M.E., M.J. O’Donnell, P. Perra, D. St. Pierre, and S. Winslow. 2001. 2001 Review of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Fishery Management Plan for Shad and River Herring (Alosa sp.). Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Arlington, VA.O’Donnell, M, N. Gray, G.Wippelhauser, and P. Christman. 2001. Kennebec River Diadromous Fish Restoration, Annual Progress Report-2001. Maine Department of Marine Resources, Augusta, ME. 110pp.O’Donnell, M, N. Gray, G.Wippelhauser, and P. Christman. 2002. Kennebec River Diadromous Fish Restoration, Annual Progress Report-2002. Maine Department of Marine Resources, Augusta, ME. 93pp.Kircheis, F.W., J.G Trial, D.P Boucher, B. Mower, T. Squiers, N. Gray, M. O’Donnell, and J.S. Stahlnecker. 2004. Analysis of impacts related to the introduction of anadromous alewife into a small freshwater lake in central Maine, USA. Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, Maine Department of Marine Resources, Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Augusta, ME. 53 pp.**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.