Graduate Research Assistant (Ph.D.)

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Thanks,

SR

Current Project:

Recruitment of pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus in the Missouri River upstream of Ft. Peck Reservoir has been nonexistent for at least four decades.  Since being listed as an endangered species in 1990, recovery efforts have focused on hatchery propagation and supplemental stocking.  These programs were designed to increase pallid sturgeon abundance in the hope that natural reproduction and recruitment would eventually replace recovery efforts.  However, deviations from the natural hydrology of the Missouri River may be driving the lack of natural pallid sturgeon recruitment.  An obligate riverine species, pallid sturgeon evolved in large, turbid river systems.  After hatching, pallid sturgeon larvae drift 245 - 530 km downstream before transitioning to benthic habitats.  As a result, insufficient lotic habitat downstream from spawning and hatch locations as a result of river impoundment is one possible explanation for the observed lack of pallid sturgeon recruitment.

This study will investigate the mechanistic linkages between the headwaters environment of Ft. Peck Reservoir and pallid sturgeon recruitment.  Four years of field work will be used to: i) investigate the headwaters environment of Ft. Peck Reservoir, ii) determine where larval pallid sturgeon drift in the headwaters environment, iii) investigate how diel changes in water quality parameters affect larvae growth and survival, and iv) experimentally determine how the headwaters environment affects survival of larval pallid sturgeon.  Upon completion, this study could have implications for management of main-stem Missouri River reservoirs for pallid sturgeon recruitment.