Timothy Counihan
Over the course of my career with the USGS I have worked on a variety of different topic areas that range from white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus embryology to the development of landscape level ecological classification schemes.
Research Interests:
My early-career work focused on assessing the early life history requirements of white sturgeon and assessing the effects of hydropower operations on the behavior and survival of juvenile pacific salmon and steelhead. My current research focus is on the analysis and development of long-term integrated monitoring programs. Towards this end I have been interacting with interdisciplinary teams to assess and develop aspects of monitoring programs on large river systems, focusing primarily on the mainstem Columbia River.
I have recently been working with an interdisciplinary team of USGS scientists to assess the effects of emerging and legacy contaminants on the Columbia River Estuary food web. My particular focus in this collaborative study was on using knowledge of sedimentation patterns to inform contaminant survey designs.
I am also working with scientists from around the U.S. to better understand the potential for conducting cross-basin comparisons of large river (e.g., Alabama, Colorado, Columbia, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers etc.) monitoring data. As part of this study, we are working to provide an understanding for the potential to provide assessments of trends in fish community characteristics over longitudinal gradients and through time and then to relate those trends to landscape level stressors.
Another focus area is the coordination and development of early detection monitoring programs for invasive species. As part of this research activity I am working with biologists from multiple states, universities, and Canadian provinces to develop a framework for the development of a regional early detection monitoring program for aquatic invasive species, and quagga and zebra mussels in particular.
In addition to the topics listed above I am also very interested and have conducted research involving aquatic plants, invertebrates (benthic macroinvertebrates, crayfish, and zooplankton), and multiple introduced and native fish species.
Professional Experience
1993 to Present - Research Fish Biologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory, Cook, WA
Education and Certifications
M.S. 1991. Wildlife Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
B.S. 1989. Biological Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
Science and Products
Development and Refinement of Methods for Early Detection of European Green Crab
Native and Invasive Bivalves in the Pacific Northwest: Co-occurrence, Habitat Associations and Potential Competition in the Face of Climate Change
Early Detection Monitoring May Not Be Sufficient for Invasive Mussels in the Columbia River Basin
Broadscale distribution, abundance and habitat associations of the invasive Asian clam (Corbicula fluminea) in the lower Columbia River, USA
Identifying research in support of the management and control of dreissenid mussels in the western United States
Can big data inform invasive dreissenid mussel risk assessments of habitat suitability?
Invasion risk assessments of habitat suitability provide insight on early detection effort allocation; however, sufficient data are rarely available to inform assessments. We explored tradeoffs of leveraging big data from the National Water Quality Portal (WQP), a standardized water quality database in the United States, to inform calcium- and pH-based risk assessments of invasive mussel (Dreissen
Framework for the development of the Columbia River mainstem fish tissue and water quality monitoring program - Bonneville Dam to Canadian border
Identifying monitoring information needs that support the management of fish in large rivers
An experimental evaluation of the efficacy of imaging flow cytometry (FlowCam) for detecting invasive Dreissened and Corbiculid bivalve veligers
Calcium concentrations in the lower Columbia River, USA, are generally sufficient to support invasive bivalve spread
A round-robin evaluation of the repeatability and reproducibility of environmental DNA assays for dreissenid mussels
Columbia River Basin dreissenid mussel monitoring forum workshop
Relating river discharge and water temperature to the recruitment of age‐0 White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus Richardson, 1836) in the Columbia River using over‐dispersed catch data
Can data from disparate long-term fish monitoring programs be used to increase our understanding of regional and continental trends in large river assemblages?
Veligers of the invasive Asian clam Corbicula fluminea in the Columbia River Basin: Broadscale distribution, abundance, and ecological associations
Science and Products
Development and Refinement of Methods for Early Detection of European Green Crab
Native and Invasive Bivalves in the Pacific Northwest: Co-occurrence, Habitat Associations and Potential Competition in the Face of Climate Change
Early Detection Monitoring May Not Be Sufficient for Invasive Mussels in the Columbia River Basin
Broadscale distribution, abundance and habitat associations of the invasive Asian clam (Corbicula fluminea) in the lower Columbia River, USA
Identifying research in support of the management and control of dreissenid mussels in the western United States
Can big data inform invasive dreissenid mussel risk assessments of habitat suitability?
Invasion risk assessments of habitat suitability provide insight on early detection effort allocation; however, sufficient data are rarely available to inform assessments. We explored tradeoffs of leveraging big data from the National Water Quality Portal (WQP), a standardized water quality database in the United States, to inform calcium- and pH-based risk assessments of invasive mussel (Dreissen