Graduate Research Assistant – PhD or MS

We are seeking interested and qualified applicants for 1-2 graduate student positions at either the PhD or MS level to participate in a large scale, comprehensive study of the influence of dams on riverine fish populations. The overall project is combining field sampling and tracking, laboratory experiments, and hydrological/behavioral simulation modeling components, all in a collaborative research effort. The projects on which these particular assistantships would be working would include study of effects of large lock-and-dam systems on riverine fishes, potential for fish to pass structures (via spillways, lock chambers, weirs, channels), fate of fish that pass structures, metabolism of these riverine fishes (via respirometry and ETS analyses), and fish swimming performance. The Program: The Fish Ecology Group at the Ireland Center in Auburn University’s School of Fisheries, Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences is currently involved in research investigating the ecology and management of aquatic organisms in a variety of systems. Recent/ongoing work has included the effects of a peaking hydropower facility on downstream fishes, respirometry and ETS measures of fishes to quantify thermal and DO stress, ecology of coastal fishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico, effects of an introduced planktivore on resident fishes and other aquatic organisms in Alabama reservoirs, adaptations of freshwater fishes to life in estuarine waters, use of lock chambers to pass riverine fishes, management of small impoundments, as well as study of the ongoing study of the effects of lock-and-dam structures on riverine fishes. Laboratory and field facilities are outstanding, including expansive pond facilities, large wet labs, controlled environment space, laboratory respirometry capabilities (including both static and swimming respirometry), and recently renovated student office space. Our staff and students work with natural resource agency biologists, travel widely for professional activities, and maintain a team approach to research.