Research

Research Interests:

What makes a fish, a fish? My research is multidisciplinary and relies on a broad in-depth knowledge of fisheries and aquatic sciences and the related technical disciplines of aquatic contaminants, aquatic ecotoxicology, fish physiology, chemistry, and conservation ecology. Examples of my research program include elucidating physiological responses to environmental stressors, diet development, fish husbandry and aquaculture, reproductive cues, fish health, disease, effects of drought, grazing and wildfire on fish habitat, and climate change on native imperiled fishes of the Southwest. Much of my research program revolves around the effects that environmental disturbances have on aquatic organisms and involves innovative approaches to characterize the magnitude and duration of the environmental effects at multiple levels of biological organization (from the cellular level to the population and community levels). Despite New Mexico's arid climate, its reservoirs, rivers, wetlands, and high mountain meadow streams provide ample opportunity to investigate what makes a fish, a fish and the effect that an ever changing climate has on New Mexico's aquatic heritage.