Louisiana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society Holds 29th annual Meeting

Several RNR students presented their research at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society on January 31st and February 1st in Baton Rouge.  Chris Llewellyn and Rafael Cuevas-Uribe won awards for their abstracts, and Craig Gothreaux, Peter Markos, and Mason Piehler won awards for their posters.  Oral presentations were given by the following students.  Thorpe Halloran presented, “Speed dating on the floodplain?  Trying to establishing a link between seasonal floodpulses and recruitment in Atchafalaya River basin,” Shauna Harris presented, “Sperm Activation in the Estuarine fish Fundulus grandis,” Chris Lllewellyn presented Assessing Functional Equivalency of Restored Marshes:  Exploring the Use of Stable Isotope Ecology,” Brian Ward presented “Effects of Watershed Land Use and Fish Community Structure,” and Rafael Cuevas-Uribe presented “Cryopreservation of Catfish Sperm by Rapid Non-Equilibrium Cooling.”  Posters were presented by Chris Bonvillain, Craig Gothreaux, Peter Markos, Mason Piehler, and Jonathan West.  RNR students Chris Bonvillain and Kevin Melody also served on the programming committee.

Several RNR faculty and research associates also presented their research.  Research associate A. Raynie Harlan presented, “A Survey of fishes Inhabiting the Pearl, Tchefuncte, and Tangipahoa River Systems in Louisiana.”  New (relatively) faculty member Chris Green presented, “Snail Consumption and Preference by Redear Sunfish and Redear Sunfish × Warmouth Hybrids.” Faculty member Mike Kaller severed as Abstract and Proceedings Editor. 

Floodplain Ecosystems of the Southeast

RNR students extensively participated in the Integrating Science into the Restoration and Management of Floodplain Ecosystems of the Southeast Symposium held March 3-6 in Little Rock, Arkansas.  RNR student Thorpe Halloran presented, “The degree of co-occurrence between zooplankton and ichythoplankton shapes the year-class recruitment in newly inundated bottomland hardwood floodplains.”  RNR students Hugo Gee, Patti Newell, Jonathan Valente, and Rachel Villani assisted with registration and audio-visual activities.

RNR faculty were instrumental in this Symposium.  Faculty members Richard Keim and Sammy King served on the steering committee, and Richard Keim presented an invited presentation on, ”Hydrologic controls on swamp forest regeneration and sustainability.”