VIRGINIA
TECH FACULTY AND STUDENTS PRESENT
AT NATIONAL FISHERIES SYMPOSIUM
BLACKSBURG, Sept. 10, 2002 - Virginia
Tech's top-ranked fisheries and
wildlife sciences department in
the College of Natural Resources
played a major part at the recent
annual meeting of the American Fisheries
Society (AFS). Over 20 students
and faculty attended the meeting,
with many presenting continuing
education courses, oral presentations,
and posters on their scholarly activities.
The American Fisheries Society hosted
its 132nd annual meeting at the
Baltimore Civic Center in Baltimore,
Md., addressing how to use partnerships
to sustain valuable fisheries resources
and rescue some of the native fish
populations from such problems as
human population growth and global
climate change.
Steve
McMullin, associate professor of
fisheries and wildlife, showcased
a program he developed in response
to leadership training needs as
identified by fisheries administrators.
Upon completion of the course, participants
are better able to understand how
different types of people use information
to make decisions.
Leading
several symposiums on sport fisheries
in tailwaters, Donald Orth, fisheries
and wildlife professor, and Tammy
Newcomb, assistant professor of
fisheries and wildlife, related
their research to improve sport
fishing. The have found that tailwater
flow management has great potential
to enhance native flora and fauna,
fisheries values, and other aquatic
resource values.
Marcy
Anderson, fisheries and wildlife
graduate student, presented "Growth
Rates of Brown Trout in the Smith
River, Va., Tailwater." Anderson
used different types of research
models to identify factors contributing
to the decline in fish growth rates
at different locations along that
popular fishing river.
Colin
Krause, fisheries and wildlife research
assistant, demonstrated "Thermal
Habitat Assessment of Alternative
Flow Scenarios in a Tailwater Fishery."
His presentation evaluated temperature
predictions from 15 alternative
flow regimes to produce optimal
growth of brown trout.
Anne
Hunter, fisheries and wildlife graduate
student, and associate professor
Andrew Dolloff presented "Longitudinal
Patterns of Community Structure
for Stream Fishes in a Virginia
Tailwater." Their research described
nongame species diversity in relation
to environmental conditions. "Understanding
relationships between environmental
gradients and fish community structure
in regulated rivers will improve
efforts to manage streamflow and
preserve aquatic life," explains
Hunter.
Travis
Brenden, fisheries and wildlife
graduate student; Brian Murphy,
fisheries and wildlife professor;
and Eric Hallerman, associate professor
in fisheries and wildlife, related
their research on "Habitat Influence
on the Spatio-Temporal Distribution
of Muskellunge in a 17-km Stretch
of the New River, Va." They based
their assessment on habitat characteristics
measured at boat electrofishing
capture sites.
"It's
important that students start to
think critically about the role
they want advocacy to play in their
future," notes Jim Berkson, assistant
professor in fisheries and wildlife.
"In my presentation I introduced
an exercise that quickly moves students
beyond avoiding advocacy to a point
where they relate it to their own
values."
Joseph
Grist, fisheries and wildlife graduate
student, based his presentation
on his assessment of an introduced
blue catfish population in a southeastern
reservoir in Lake Norman, N.C.
One
fish of management concern is the
red porgy, a reef fish important
to both recreational and commercial
fisheries along the Atlantic coast.
Because of the drastic decline in
population, Michelle Davis, graduate
student in fisheries and wildlife,
studied the problem and gave her
presentation on the effects of altering
traditional sampling regimes on
the variability surrounding stock
assessments. "The results of this
work will provide a framework for
managers to determine effective
sampling strategies in the absence
of harvest data," explains Davis.
Stephen
Smith, associate professor of biomedical
sciences and pathobiology, Ruth
Barratt, fisheries and wildlife
graduate student, and Jim Berkson,
discussed their work evaluating
the hypothesis that horseshoe crabs
are more closely related to arachnids
(such as spiders) than crustaceans
(such as the Blue Crab).
Russell
Kruzelock and Tom Newman, lab facility
managers at the Virginia Bioinformatics
Institute, along with Berkson, and
Smith talked about new tools for
the study of horseshoe crab molecular
biology. They explained the use
of individual microspheres as single
array elements and described the
software tools necessary to make
effective use of this gene cloning
technology.
The effects of blood extraction
on the survival of horseshoe crabs
has been a major topic of concern.
The compound is used worldwide for
detecting endotoxins in human blood.
Elizabeth Walls, graduate student
in fisheries and wildlife, gave
a presentation on her research work
involving the mortality associated
with the blood extraction methods
by biomedical companies.
Lenka
V. Hurton, graduate student in fisheries
and wildlife, presented her findings
on determining blood volume using
inulin in order to reduce mortality
rates in horseshoe crabs.
Andrew
Rosenberger and Scott Kloper, fisheries
and wildlife research associates,
examined the feasibility of aerial
vidoegraphy equipped with night-vision
technology from fixed-wing aircraft
to enhance ground spawning surveys
and monitor the spawning of horseshoe
crabs.
Louis
Helfrich, fisheries and wildlife
sciences professor, shared his findings
using hidrostal pumps to transport
live striped bass and rainbow trout
at high density with little mortality
and body injury.
