Biota of Running Water Environments

Dr. Rick Cunjak
New Brunswick Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of New Brunswick (email: cunjak@unb.ca)

Dr. Cunjak's current research program is focussed on running water environments and the biota living there, with special interest in the ecology and conservation of Atlantic salmon. There are three areas of focus: 1. Winter Biology - his research approach to this topic involves studies of fish movement and habitat-use, energetic costs of overwintering, and the impact of river ice on egg survival and habitat availability; 2. Anthropogenic impacts - quantification of forestry and agriculture impacts in stream ecosystems (hydrology, sediment loading, nutrient cycling, water temperature); and, 3. Stream ecosystem dynamics - understanding the complexity of energy flow between terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and from primary producers to top predators using stable isotope analysis (C,N,S), and the importance of in-stream stressor events (e.g. floods, ice break-up, high temperature) on stream communities and populations (invertebrates, fish).

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