PROGRAM INTRODUCTION

The most interesting and challenging problems we face in fisheries science are inherently complex addressing a wide range interacting, often competing, biological, ecological, socioeconomic, cultural, and legal concerns. Consider, for example, the interplay of environmental, political and social interests and information needs associated with the recovery of wild salmon and trout in the Pacific Northwest. These involve protection of resources and habitats, fisheries and tribal needs, hatchery effects, electrical power production and dams, agriculture and water, and issues of extinction, to name but a few.

Our science mission in aquatic ecology focuses on understanding the interrelationships of western fishes and their environments. A primary emphasis of WFRC research is on aquatic resources managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Ecological research is thus focused on fish populations, aquatic habitats, and ecosystems that sustain valued resources. In combination, the goal of this research is natural resource conservation resulting from science-based management that is predictive and incorporates knowledge about natural and anthropogenic factors and influences on population abundance. Management related to sustainable fisheries and resource conservation thus requires accurate biological information about fish species, their interactions, and knowledge about the effects of human interventions.

WFRC research is conducted in a variety of aquatic ecosystems including large rivers and streams, the coastal ocean, ponds and lakes and reservoirs, and desert springs and inland seas. All life stages of aquatic organisms and their ecosystem interactions (e.g., recruitment, predation, competition, and symbiosis) are studied. In the broadest of terminology, ecosystem research can involve cycling of chemical elements (e.g., carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorous) and flows of energy (linked through photosynthesis, production of organic matter, and utilization by respiration). In aquatic ecosystem research, information about community structure (species abundance) and function (species interactions) is used to describe food webs, predator-prey relationships, and selectivity. Aquatic ecosystems are comprised of many trophic (feeding) levels including primary producers, herbivores, carnivores and detritivores, comprising the food web. Each trophic level is limited in energy to the amount it can consume (eat) at the lower level. The ecological processes that limit biological production at all levels are important determinants of resource availability (e.g., salmon and trout for fishing).

Single populations are often studied in considerable detail, and information about taxonomic and genetic relationships, population dynamics (e.g., size, growth, mortality, exploitation), movements and migrations, essential habitats, reproductive ecology, and species interactions (e.g., food web relationships and energetics) is collected. Laboratory experiments are conducted to investigate physiological, behavioral, and genetic effects of natural and human-induced conditions to better understand how environmental disturbances, alterations, may affect the availability, quality, or quantity of important habitats. Long-term research and monitoring of population status and trends, habitats, and ecological processes, provides the backbone for predictive models and management strategies for healthy, aquatic ecosystems.

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