Fish Ecology will provide participants with an understanding of the ways in which fish interact with each other and their environment and the potential impacts of these interactions upon fisheries.  This course does not use a textbook, but rather integrates knowledge from a number of current research articles to study a particular aspect of fish ecology.  Participants will become familiar with scientific literature as well as the scientific method used to answer ecological questions.  Participants will learn how to integrate information from a variety of studies to support or refute scientific theories and generalizations. 

College Credit: 3 graduate semester hours.

Who Should Attend:  Biologists, researchers, and resource managers.

Length:  5 days; 40 hours (as well as pre and post course assignments)

Topics: 

• Physiology of fish, growth and energetics;
• Fish Bioenergetics;
• Locomotion, migration and movements;
• Feeding and trophic ecology;
• Predation and predator-prey interactions;
• Habitat and scale of measurement;
• Top-down vs. Bottom-up effects and control;
• Ecology of lotic systems;
• Ecology of lentic systems;
• Reproduction and life history traits and guilds;
• Early life history studies;
• Competition;
• Invasion ecology;
• Fish and Physical Fronts; and
• Importance of size to ecological interactions/Fish management and fish ecology.