Worked at the Columbia River Research Laboratory for over 20 years on a variety of topics, but heavy emphasis on juvenile salmon passage and survival at hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River Basin.
Education:
M.S. Zoology/Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI
B.S. Biology, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Research Interests:
Historically my research has been focused on efforts to improve juvenile salmon passage and survival at hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River Basin. More recently I have used telemetry to monitor the behavior and movements of adult salmonids in tributaries of the Columbia River using sensored transmitters (temperature, motion). I am interested in the performance of fish equipped with telemetry transmitters and have conducted a variety of experiments comparing the stress response, swimming performance, buoyancy compensation, and predator avoidance ability of tagged fish to untagged fish. Most recently I have develop a marine research program, focusing on forage fishes in Puget Sound, Washington. My team has evaluated spawning site selection, responses to climate change, food habits, and rearing habitats. We are currently evaluating the exposure of these fish to contaminants such as PCBs. Additionally, we are working with Pacific lamprey in laboratory settings, evaluating rearing techniques, screening materials, and responses to dewatering.
Experience:
1994 to Present - Research Fish Biologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory, Cook, WA
Toxic chemical pollutants have been released into Puget Sound for decades by human activities. There’s a wide range of contaminants, from persistent compounds like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and flame retardants to contaminants of emerging concern. Aquatic species can be exposed to and accumulate contaminants, causing disease or disruption of biological processes like growth or...
Puget Sound is a critical part of the Pacific Northwest, both culturally and economically. Eelgrass beds are an important feature of Puget Sound and are known to influence fish assemblages. As part of a larger site-characterization effort, and to gain a better understanding of the fish assemblages in Bellingham Bay, Washington, four eelgrass beds...
Andrews, Morgan I.; Liedtke, Theresa L.
Anthropogenic dewatering of aquatic habitats can cause stranding and mortality of burrowed larval lampreys; however, the effects of dewatering have not been quantified. We assessed: (a) changes in spatial distribution, abundance, and emergence of larvae dewatered at Leaburg Reservoir (OR); (b) emergence and mortality of larvae dewatered in a...
Harris, Julianne E.; Skalicky, Joseph J.; Liedtke, Theresa L.; Weiland, Lisa K.; Clemens, Benjamin J.; Gray, Ann E.
This document describes a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the preparation of purposely killed juvenile salmon, implanted with telemetry transmitters, to be released into rivers, lakes, or streams to test one of the survival model assumptions. Procedures for releases of purposely killed fish (hereinafter dead fish releases) were developed by...
Tomka, Ryan G.; Liedtke, Theresa L.; Frost, Conrad; Smith, Collin D. Forage fish are primary prey for seabirds, fish and marine mammals. Elevated levels of pollutants in Puget Sound, Washington salmon and killer whale tissues potentially could be sufficiently high to elicit adverse effects and hamper population recovery efforts. Contaminant transfer and biomagnification of the toxic compounds measured in this study...
Conn, Kathleen E.; Liedtke, Theresa L.; Takesue, Renee K.; Dinicola, Richard S. Marine and freshwater plastic pollution is a challenging issue receiving large amounts of research and media attention. Yet, few studies have documented the impact of microplastic ingestion to aquatic organisms. In the Pacific Northwest, Chinook salmon are a culturally and commercially significant fish species. The presence of marine and...
Spanjer, Andrew; Liedtke, Theresa L.; Conn, Kathleen E.; Weiland, Lisa K.; Black, Robert W.; Nathan Godfrey
Executive SummaryA 2-year radiotelemetry study was completed to monitor the movements of adult winter steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the upper Cowlitz River Basin. A reintroduction program was established to restore healthy and harvestable populations of steelhead because volitional access to the area was blocked in the 1960s after...
Liedtke, Theresa L.; Kock, Tobias J.; Hansen, Amy C.; Ekstrom, Brian K.; Tomka, Ryan G.
Executive SummaryLarval Pacific lamprey live for several years burrowed in nearshore sediments where they filter feed on detritus and organic matter. Dewatering of larval habitat can occur as a result of flow-management practices, construction projects, or seasonal closures of irrigation diversions. Effective management of dewatering events...
Liedtke, Theresa L.; Weiland, Lisa K.; Skalicky, Joseph J; Gray, Ann E.
A trap-and-haul program is operated to move anadromous Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) around dams and reservoirs in the Cowlitz River basin, Washington. The primary release site for adult fish is in Lake Scanewa, a small reservoir created by Cowlitz Falls Dam, the uppermost dam in the basin. Releases in the reservoir are terminated when...
Kock, Tobias J.; Ekstrom, Brian K.; Liedtke, Theresa L.
Telemetry has been an invaluable tool to improve our understanding of adult Pacific Lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) movements and to guide management approaches to protect and restore this species of concern. Juvenile and larval lamprey, however, are much smaller than adults, and have not been monitored with telemetry because available...
Liedtke, Theresa L.; Lampman, Ralph T. ; Deng, Z. Daniel; Beals, Tyler E.; Porter, Michael S.; Hansen, Amy C.; Kock, Tobias J.; Tomka, Ryan G.; Monk, Patrick
Thousands of screened water diversions throughout the Columbia River Basin of the Pacific Northwest are sources of entrainment (unintended diversion into an unsafe passage route), injury, and mortality for a range of fish species and screening criteria have been developed to reduce and mitigate these effects. Large knowledge gaps exist concerning...
Liedtke, Theresa L.; Didricksen, Daniel J.; Weiland, Lisa K.; Ragala, Joshua A.; Lampman, Ralph
The objective of this study was to assess the impact of different tagging methods and transmitter types on juvenile salmonid behavior, mortality, physiology, and swimming performance over a range of water temperatures and fish sizes.In Chapter 1, two laboratory experiments were conducted to assess maximum burst-swimming speeds, the probability of...
Perry, Russell W.; Liedtke, Theresa L.
The Bureau of Reclamation supports the Shasta Dam Fish Passage Evaluation (SDFPE; Yip, 2015) program, and in 2016 set out to determine the feasibility of reintroducing winter-run and spring-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss) to tributaries upstream of Shasta Dam. Ideally, reintroduction strategy includes...
Adams, Noah S.; Liedtke, Theresa L.; Plumb, John M.; Weiland, Lisa K.; Hansen, Amy C.; Evans, Scott D.
New USGS and NOAA Collaboration in Alaska Will Help Gain Insight into Juvenile Chinook Salmon Distributions and Migrations