CALFED Science Fellows Class of 2006
The Science Fellows program is a project that brings together young scientists, CALFED agency scientists and senior research mentors in collaborative data analysis and research projects relevent to ecosystem management and water supply reliability questions.
The CALFED Science Fellows Program will put out a call annually for research proposals from junior scientists (with the backing of their research mentors) for analyses of the immense monitoring databases collected and maintained by the implementing agencies.
Lindsay Sullivan
Lindsay Sullivan is postdoctoral fellow at the Romberg Tiburon Center at San Francisco State University. She is studying the trophic role of zooplankton and related questions surrounding their feeding, growth and reproductive behaviors. She earned a doctorate in oceanography from the University of Rhode Island in Kingston in 2006. Her doctoral research examined the feeding ecology of the ctenophore, Mnemiopsis leidyi. More recently, she began looking at the prey selection of larval and juvenile plankton-eating fish in the San Francisco Estuary and its relation to the population success of Delta smelt and other fishes.
Sullivan has received several awards in recognition of the achievement of female graduate students and is now active in supporting women in academia. She has twice won the Ann Durbin Award in biological oceanography, awarded in memory of Ann Durbin, a biological oceanography professor at the University of Rhode Island. Sullivan is also a member of P.E.O Sisterhood, an Iowa-based international organization promoting educational opportunities for women.
Project Abstract
Prey Selection of Larval and Juvenile Planktivorous
Fish in the San Francisco Estuary
R/SF-15 Jan. 07–Dec. 08
Lindsay Sullivan, URI—SFSU, 401.874.6129,
lsullivan@gso.uri.edu
Laboratory feeding experiments will be conducted to study prey selection in larval and juvenile delta smelt, striped bass and longfin smelt and its relation to light and turbidity levels. Results will be compared to analyses of gut contents of respective fishes—the traditional method for inferring prey selection. The findings, it is hoped, will shed light on the causes of declines in the abundances of plankton-eating fishes in the San Francisco Estuary.
Brian Sardella
Brian Sardella is a postdoctoral fellow in the department of animal science at UC Davis. He studies how fish adapt to environmental stress; his current research focuses on how sturgeon in the San Francisco Bay-Delta respond to changes in temperature and salinity. He earned a doctorate in zoology from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in 2006. His doctoral research examined temperature and salinity tolerances of Mozambique tilapia in the Salton Sea in Riverside and Imperial counties.
Sardella comes to fisheries science with a background in general vertebrate physiology. He earned a master’s in biology from California State University, Chico in 2002. His thesis examined the effects of human activities on grebe nesting at Eagle Lake in Lassen, Calif. A native Californian, Sardella said the state’s waterways and native species are important to him on a personal level. He hopes his research will enhance restoration of the Bay-Delta and mitigate effects of global climate change.
Project Abstract
Temperature and Salinity Effects on the Physiology
of White Sturgeon
R/SF-16 Jan. 07–Jan. 09
Brian Sardella, UBC—UCD, 604.822.3378,
basardella@ucdavis.edu
This project investigates the physiological response of white sturgeon to rising water temperatures. The primary objective is to predict how the species, at the population level, might be affected by climate change. As part of this, experiments will be conducted to determine the upper end of the sturgeon’s thermal tolerance and to identify the relation to salinity. The CALFED Fellow will also seek to sequence proteins activated under temperature-induced stress.
Christine Whitcraft
Christine Whitcraft is a postdoctoral fellow at the Romberg Tiburon Center at San Francisco State University. She studies wetlands ecology and conservation and the effects of invasive, exotic plants on native wetland food webs. She earned a doctorate in biological oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2007. Her doctoral research examined the effects of invasive salt cedar trees (also known as tamarisk) on wetland plants, animals and the local food web. She also examined links between tidal flushing, sea grass abundance and local food webs.
“With hurricane Katrina and the Christmas tsunami in southern Asia, we saw that wetlands are important for our well being,” Whitcraft said, explaining her interest in wetlands conservation, “but we don’t quite know the mechanisms by which they function.” Her interest in wetlands and invasive species ecology began after college, while an intern with the Nature Conservancy in Delaware and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland in 1999.
Project Abstract
Role of Exotics as Ecosystem Engineers Affecting
Estuarine Food Webs in Suisan Marsh
R/SF-17 Feb. 07–Feb. 09
Christine Whitcraft, UCSD–SFSU, 858.534.3579,
cwhitcra@ucsd.edu
The CALFED Fellow will test the hypothesis that invasive estuarine plants, by affecting the biodiversity of microalgae and invertebrate communities, change local food web dynamics. In particular, the project will document key functional differences in areas of Suisun Marsh invaded by Arundo donax (giant reed), Lepidium latifolium (perennial pepperweed) and Phragmites australis (common reed). What is learned will be used to develop eradication strategies in highly disturbed wetland habitats, where there may be several rare species or other factors complicating restoration options.
Christa Woodley
Christa Woodley is a doctoral fellow in ecology at the center for watershed sciences at UC Davis. She studies the emerging field of conservation physiology and is especially interested in understanding how global climate change, habitat loss, genetic “pollution,” invasive species and toxic chemicals threaten the environment. Her doctoral research looks at the physiological and behavioral responses of Sacramento perch to changing water quality—information she hopes will help managers protect and restore fishes in the San Francisco Bay-Delta.
Woodley earned a master’s of science from the College of Marine Sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2001 for her research on the effects of habitat loss on the hormones, metabolism, growth and behavior of coastal marine fishes in Mississippi. She has been an assistant fisheries ecologist at the University of Southern Mississippi, a scientific leader for the university’s Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program, and an assistant fisheries biologist at NOAA Fisheries in Miami.
Project Abstract
The Impacts of Global Climate Change on Delta
Fishes: Predicting Fish Abundance, Distribution
and Community Changes
R/SF-18 Jun. 07–May 10
Christa Woodley, UCD, 530.400.5871,
cmwoodley@ucdavis.edu
Global warming is predicted to reduce rainfall, raise sea level and enhance evaporation in the San Francisco Bay-Delta region. This project looks at what this may mean for native and invasive species in the region, in terms of their distribution, foraging opportunities, growth and reproduction. Select species of fish will be studied under various scenarios of future climate patterns to address these questions.
Robert Schroeter
Robert Schroeter is a doctoral fellow in ecology in the department of wildlife, fish and conservation biology at UC Davis. He studies aquatic ecology and is especially interested in understanding the impact of exotic species on native fishes. His doctoral thesis examines the ways native fishes use brackish tidal marshes in the San Francisco Estuary and how non-native species and diminished water quality affect them.
He earned a master’s in biology from the University of Nevada in Reno in 1998. His research looked at the effects of an introduced brook trout on native cutthroat trout in mountain streams in eastern Nevada. Schroeter has taught courses at both UC Davis and the University of Nevada and hopes to become a science teacher. “I would like to open students’ eyes to the plight of native species and ecosystems,” he said.
Project Abstract
Temporal and Spatial Patterns in Abundance and
Production in Pelagic Organisms in the Low Salinity
Zone (Suisan Marsh, Bay and Delta) of the San
Francisco Estuary with Insight into Trophic Position
and Impacts of Alien Invasive Species
R/SF-19 Dec. 06–Nov. 09
Robert Schroeter, UCD, 530.219.9693,
reschroeter@ucdavis.edu
The aquatic community in Suisun Marsh will be compared to that in habitats in adjacent waterways to determine why there has been such a decline in marsh aquatic life. A first step in the research will be to compile existing data on aquatic life and use this larger dataset to begin to look for patterns linking fish and invertebrate abundances with environmental conditions. The CALFED Fellow will also examine potential consequences of invasive gelatinous zooplankton on native zooplankton and how this might influence primary productivity.
Russell Perry
Russell Perry is a doctoral fellow in the department of aquatic and fishery science at the University of Washington, Seattle. He studies salmon and is especially interested in understanding how individual salmon behaviors affect the survival rate of the entire population. Perry’s interest in salmon began while working a summer job with the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho, surveying and identifying endangered fish. “I saw these salmon that had migrated more than a thousand miles inland,” Perry said. “Their journey from egg to adult, to complete their life cycle, was amazing.”
Perry decided to study fisheries management at Utah State University, and after earning his bachelor’s degree in 1995 was hired as a fisheries technician at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Columbia River Research Laboratory in Cook, Washington. He went on to earn a master’s degree in resource and environmental management from Simon Fraser University in Canada in 2002. His thesis looked at the effects of suspended sediments on food webs supporting juvenile chinook salmon in the Yukon River.
Project Abstract
Estimating Route-specific Survival and Distribution
of Juvenile Salmonids Migrating Through the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
R/SF-20 Nov. 06–Oct. 09
Russell Perry, UW, 541.380.1564,
rperry@usgs.gov
A model developed for studying salmon on the Columbia River will be adapted to compute survival statistics for juvenile salmon migrating through the various river networks flowing into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The probability of a fish surviving passage through a specific dam or channel and more significantly, the proportion of a population subject to each route-specific survival rate, will be estimated. This information will allow researchers to quantitatively assess the impact of water exports on juvenile salmon and the proportion of a population subject to lower survival rates for a given management decision.
Alexander Parker
Alexander Parker is a postdoctoral fellow at the Romberg Tiburon Center at San Francisco State University. He studies microbial biogeochemistry and is particularly interested in identifying the degree to which bacteria are part of the base of the marine food web. He has measured carbon cycling by bacteria in the perpetually cold Arctic Ocean and recently participated in a National Science Foundation “Biocomplexity in the Environment” program to explain the relatively low primary productivity in parts of the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
He earned a doctorate in oceanography from the University of Delaware in Newark in 2004. His doctoral research examined the flow of carbon and nitrogen through bacteria and phytoplankton at different times and places in the Delaware Estuary. A central theme of his research is the use of radioactive and stable isotope tracers for measuring carbon and nitrogen fluxes. He plans to continue to develop and apply novel approaches to studying microbes to better understand their role in controlling carbon and nitrogen cycles in the San Francisco Bay-Delta.
Project Abstract
Heterotrophic Bacteria and the Food Web of the
Low Salinity Zone and Salt Marsh Habitats of the
San Francisco Estuary
R/SF-21 Nov. 06–Oct. 08
Alexander Parker, SFSU, 415.338.3746,
aeparker@sfsu.edu
There has been a sharp decline in phytoplankton abundance in the low-salinity zone of the San Francisco Estuary, and this has likely increased the relative importance of bacterial carbon as a food source for higher trophic levels. This project will compare phytoplankton and bacteria production and their respective roles in supporting the local food web. In the project’s first year, the CALFED Fellow will map the spatial and temporal patterns in phytoplankton and bacteria activity and abundance, and investigate factors influencing these patterns in restored vs. natural salt marshes.
Allison Luengen
Allison Luengen is a postdoctoral fellow working jointly at the U.S. Geological Survey in Sacramento and State University of New York at Stony Brook. She studies the pathways by which toxic metals enter the marine food chain and the processes that control their accumulation in the food chain.
She earned a doctorate in environmental toxicology from UC Santa Cruz in 2007. Her doctoral research identified heavy metals preferentially accumulated by phytoplankton in San Francisco Bay. She earned a master’s in environmental toxicology from UC Santa Cruz in 2001. Her master’s thesis showed that chronic heavy metal pollution in San Francisco Bay alters the immune responses of marine mussels, potentially making these mollusks vulnerable to other types of environmental degradation. Luengen was raised on Puget Sound in Washington and is, naturally, an avid sailor and swimmer. “I’ve lived and worked on the water my whole life,” she said. “I want to know what is going on in an environment I love.”
Project Abstract
Mercury Interactions with Algae: Effects on Mercury
Bioavailability in the San Francisco Bay Delta
R/SF-22 Jan. 07–Dec. 09
Allison Luengen, Stony Brook University, 631.632.3128,
aluengen@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Several fish species in the San Francisco Bay-Delta contain potentially unsafe (for human consumption) levels of mercury. This project seeks to identify the chemical parameters controlling mercury uptake in phytoplankton—the pathway by which mercury enters the aquatic food chain. Some researchers speculate that phytoplankton accumulate more methyl mercury when there is considerable dissolved organic matter in the water column. The CALFED Fellow will investigate the hypothesis that phytoplankton are accidentally acquiring methyl mercury as they feed. The findings may help regulators identify ways to reduce the entry of mercury into the food chain.
Nathaniel Seavy
Nat Seavy is a postdoctoral fellow at the U.S. Geological Survey in Hawaii. An ornithologist, he studies how habitat changes—particularly those due to human activities—influence bird population dynamics and survival rates. He is currently creating a manual for monitoring seabirds at national wildlife refuges on the U.S. Pacific Islands.
He earned a doctorate in zoology at University of Florida in Gainesville in 2006 for his research on the effects of forest fire management on bird communities in southern Oregon and northern California. Prior to this, he spent 18 months in the foothills of the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda, studying the comparative energetics—the energy used to maintain body temperatures— in East African sunbirds. This research formed the basis of a master’s degree, also earned at the University of Florida.
Project Abstract
Measuring and Predicting the Success of Riparian
Restoration for Wildlife Populations
R/SF-23 Nov. 06–Oct. 09
Nathaniel Seavy, USGS—RCUH, 808.967.7396,
nseavy@yahoo.com
Restoring riparian habitats has the potential to benefit songbirds. This project will determine the level of restoration needed to ensure songbird habitats. Models of riparian bird population dynamics will be used to predict whether or not a given restoration project will provide functional bird habitat. This information will be used to identify factors essential for recreating bird habitats.This will hopefully lead to restoration strategies that will protect songbirds today and in the face of future climatic change.
Anthony Clemento
Anthony Clemento is a doctoral fellow in ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz and the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Santa Cruz. He studies molecular genetics and its application to salmon and steelhead conservation. In particular, he would like to identify genes responsible for key life history variations (e.g., size, growth rates, and age at sexual maturity) in salmon and trout.
Clemento was a pre-med major in college who decided to switch to natural resource ecology after completing a field studies program in Nepal, run through the Wildlands Study Program at San Francisco State University. His interest turned to salmon biology during his time with the AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project, working with a fisheries biologist at the California Department of Fish and Game in Willits. Clemento went on to pursue a master’s degree in fisheries biology at Humboldt State University. His research used genetic markers to determine the sub-population structure of steelhead trout on the Middle Fork of the Eel River in Northern California. He also helped Caltrans identify highway culverts blocking salmon and trout migrations.
Project Abstract
Validation of a New Method for Population
Assessment of Pacific Salmonids Using Genetic
Markers
R/SF-24 Nov. 06–Oct. 09
Anthony Clemento, UCSC, 831.420.3906,
anthony.clemento@noaa.gov
The CALFED Fellow seeks to identify genetic markers in the DNA of Central Valley chinook to trace the parentage of these fish. Further studies will evaluate whether these genetic markers can be used to cost-effectively tag and track salmon. If successful, this virtual tagging method would yield a powerful tool—one significantly better than current coded wire tags—for monitoring the effects of hatchery practices, water policy, climate change and fisheries management on salmonid populations.
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