RESEARCH EXPERTISE
Movement and Telemetry
Tracking fish movements, habitat use, and responses to changing river conditions
UNDERSTANDING FISH MOVEMENT
Following fish through dynamic aquatic habitats
Fish movement is central to understanding habitat connectivity, seasonal resource use, and responses to environmental change. We use acoustic telemetry to monitor the movements of tagged fish, combining receiver detections with field observations and measurements of river conditions to investigate where fish travel and which habitats they use. Our work with Lake Sturgeon illustrates how movement data can inform assessments of habitat use and support freshwater conservation and river management.
STEP 01
Tag & deploy
Fit study fish with acoustic transmitters and deploy receiver arrays in rivers and lakes.
STEP 02
Monitor
Retrieve detections and collect environmental and habitat measurements to give movements context.
STEP 03
Interpret
Analyse movement patterns, habitat use, and environmental responses to inform conservation decisions.
FIELD & RIVER MONITORING
Our expertise in practice
Articles from the Lab
Thayer, D.*, Ruppert, J.L.W., Watkinson, D., Clayton, T. and M.S. Poesch. (2017) Identifying temporal bottlenecks for the conservation of large-bodied fishes: Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fluvescens) show highly restricted movement and habitat-use overwinter. Global Ecology and Conservation 10: 194-205.
Neufeld, K.*, Watkinson, D., and Poesch, M.S. (2016) The effect of hydrologic alteration on capture efficiency of freshwater fishes in a highly modified Prairie stream: Implications for bio-monitoring programs. River Research and Applications 32: 975-983.
Poesch, M.S. and D.A. Jackson (2012) Impact of species-specific dispersal and regional stochasticity on estimates of population viability in stream metapopulations. Landscape Ecology 27: 405-416.
Schwalb, A.J., Cottenie, K., Poesch, M.S., and J. Ackerman (2011) Dispersal limitation in unionid mussels and implications for their recovery. Freshwater Biology 56: 1509-1518.
Schwalb, A.J., Poesch, M.S., and J. Ackerman (2011) Movement of logperch—the obligate host fish for endangered snuffbox mussels: implications for mussel dispersal. Aquatic Sciences 73: 223-231.