USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

Home/ Overview/ Science Programs/ Data Library/ Products and Publications/States/ Rivers/Teachers and Students/ Links/ Contact/ Search

Jonathan M. Vallazza

Position title: Fishery Biologist

Email: jvallazza@usgs.gov
Phone: 608.781.6224
Fax: 608.783.6066

Education:
1995 M.S., Fisheries Management, Ohio State University
1990 B.S., Ecology, Ethology & Evolution, University of Illinois

Primary Responsibilities/Activities:
My primary responsibility is planning and leading data collection activities.  I organize, process and analyze study data, including side scan sonar imagery and geospatial data.  I assist with study planning and manuscript preparation.  I also captain the USGS river trawling vessel, R/V E.D. Cope.

Research Interests:

• Riverine Fish Behavior
• Effects of Commercial Navigation on Fishes & Fish Habitat
• Food Web Dynamics in Aquatic Ecosystems

Active Projects:

• Patterns in fish distribution and habitat use in the Upper Mississippi River (River Productivity)
• Effects of commercial navigation on channel-dwelling fishes (River Productivity)
• Using side scan sonar to study fish habitat associations in large rivers (River Productivity)
• Identifying food web linkages in the Upper Mississippi River using fatty acid and stable isotope analysis (River Productivity)

Select Publications:
Gutreuter, S., J.M. Vallazza, and B.C. Knights.  2006.  Persistent disturbance by commercial navigation alters the relative abundance of channel-dwelling fishes in a large river.  Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 63:2418-2433.

Ickes, B. S., J.M. Vallazza, J. Kalas, and B.C. Knights.  2005.  River floodplain connectivity and lateral fish passage: A literature review. U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin, 25 p.

Knights, B.C., J.M. Vallazza, S.J. Zigler, and M.R. Dewey.  2002.  Habitat and movement of lake sturgeon Acipenser fluvescens in the upper Mississippi River system, USA.  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 131:507-522.

Gutreuter, S. and J. M. Vallazza. 2002. Improved estimation of entrainment mortality of adult fish caused by towboats on the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway. Upper Mississippi River– Illinois Waterway System Navigation Study. Report to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District. 54 pp.

Links:
Managing pathways of biological production of large rivers

Return to Staff Directory