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Brian S. Ickes

Position title:  Research Statistician (Biology)

Email: bickes@usgs.gov
Phone: 608.781.6298
Fax: 608.783.6066

Education:
2001 M.S., Fisheries Ecology, University of Minnesota
1991 B.S., Environmental Science, Bowling Green State University

Primary Responsibilities/Activities:
Brian S. Ickes is a research ecologist, statistician, and the principal investigator for the Fisheries Component of the Long Term Resources Monitoring Program (LTRMP) on the Upper Mississippi River System, the nation’s largest river monitoring program.      
Brian oversees the collection, quality assurance, serving, and synthesis of fisheries data on the UMRS in cooperation with 4 federal agencies and 5 Midwestern state natural resource agencies. In addition, Brian conducts research in many areas including community, population, life history, and invasive species ecology; effects of impoundment upon migratory aquatic fauna; effects of flood control measures on ecosystem patterns and processes; and changes in flood risks associated with two centuries of river engineering.

Research Interests:

• Freshwater community ecology
• Flood risks associated with cumulative engineering practices
• Survey/monitoring designs
• Lateral connectivity
• Adaptive management
• Systems modeling
• Data visualization

Active Projects:

• LTRMP fisheries monitoring ($1.4 million annually, PI)
• Multivariate geospatial analysis of engineering and flood response, Mississippi River System, USA (NSF $299,953, Co-PI)
• Procurement of a computational and data visualization laboratory ($80,000, PI)
• Testing the fundamental assumption underlying the use of LTRMP fish data: Does variation in LTRMP CPUE data reflect variation in the abundance of fishes ($102,487, Co-PI)
• Association between fish assemblage and off-channel area type in the impounded reach of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers: implications for habitat restoration at management-relevant scales ($38,417, Co-PI)
• Development of a virtual hydrologic and geospatial data repository for the Mississippi River System ($29,000, PI)

Select Publications:
Pinter, N., A. Jemberie, J. Remo, R. Heine, and B.S. Ickes.  In review (submitted 24 July 2007).  River engineering and flooding: system wide empirical modeling of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Science.

Ickes, B.S.  2007.  River stage and discharge for the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers, USA.  Completion Report to the National Science Foundation (Grant Number: EAR0229578), Empirical Hydrology Laboratory, Southern Illinois University.  27 pp. + Appendices A-G and Database.

Pinter, N., B.S. Ickes, J.H. Wlosinski, and R.R. van der Ploeg.  2006.  Historical trends in flooding:  Contrasting results from the Mississippi and Rhine River systems.  Journal of Hydrology v. 331, no. 3-4, p. 554-566.

Ickes, B.S. 2006.  A research framework for aquatic over-wintering issues in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.  USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin.  26 pp. + Appendices A-B.

Ickes, B. S., M. C. Bowler, A. D. Bartels, D. J. Kirby, S. DeLain, J. H. Chick, V. A. Barko, K. S. Irons, and M. A. Pegg. 2005. Multiyear synthesis of the fish component from 1993 to 2002 for the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program. U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin. LTRMP 2005-T005. 60 pp. + CD-ROM (Appendixes A–E).

Ickes, B.S., J. Vallazza, J. Kalas, and B. Knights.  2005.  River floodplain connectivity and lateral fish passage:  A literature review.  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Contract Completion Report, U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin.  25pp.

Links:
Long Term Resources Monitoring Program

Spatial analysis of fish monitoring data collected by active gear

Integrated analysis of fish monitoring data

Fish passage bibliography

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