Dr. Winemiller and PhD students, Luke Bower and Dan Fitzgerald provided instruction in fisheries methods at the Cambodian Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute (IFReDI) in Phnom Penh on February 1-2, 2016. The workshop was attended by 25 individuals from IFReDI, the Royal University of Phnom Penh, and the Royal Agricultural University. Students practiced laboratory methods for research on age and growth estimation using scales and otoliths, reproductive status based on examination of gonads/gametes, and dietary analysis based on analysis of gut contents. Also provided was an overview… Read More →
Authors of Science Journal article strive to save world’s mightiest rivers
Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu COLLEGE STATION – A group of 40 international scientists led by a College of Agriculture and Life Sciences professor says three of the earth’s mightiest rivers are being ravaged in the name of progress. The findings of Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Regents Professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences and Texas A&M AgriLife Research fisheries scientist in College Station, and his colleagues were released in the scientific journal Science. The paper, “Hydropower Expansion in the Amazon, Congo and Mekong – a looming threat… Read More →
Dr. Winemiller presented opening plenary lecture
Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Regents Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences recently presented the opening plenary lecture at the 1st Costa Rican Congress and 4th Latin American Symposium of Ichthyology held in San José, Costa Rica from 2-5 November. The talk was entitled, Functional traits, convergent evolution, and periodic tables of niches”. The lecture summarized ideas about convergent evolution and niche schemes that appeared in a recent paper published in Ecology Letters (see item 2 below). Dr. Winemiller also taught a pre-conference course on food web… Read More →
Functional Traits, Convergent Evolution, and Periodic Tables of Niches
Dr. Kirk Winemiller and doctoral students Luke Bower and Daniel Fitzgerald together with Dr. Eric Pianka (Denton Cooley Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin) recently published a paper in Ecology Letters entitled “Functional Traits, Convergent Evolution, and Periodic Tables of Niches” in which they explore implications of convergent evolution for current research that seeks to define niche dimensionality and species ordination in functional trait space. The paper also summarizes applications of species ordination for environmental challenges such as restoration ecology and invasive… Read More →
Visiting Scholars
During the Fall 2015 semester, the Winemiller Aquatic Ecology Lab has been hosting two visiting scientists from Brazil. Rodrigo Ferreira Bastos is a doctoral student from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, and Larissa Strictar Pereira is a doctoral student from the Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Brazil. Rodrigo is researching the trophic ecology of fishes and food webs in coastal ecosystems using stable isotope methods. Larissa is investigating the implications of cannibalism for fish population and community ecology. Both students will… Read More →
TWRI Mills Scholar Tony Rodger finds high flow events critical for lower Brazos fish
By Leslie Lee Tony Rodger, who graduated earlier this month with a master’s degree from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M University, studied minnow species in the lower Brazos River Basin to determine how environmental flows affected early life stage survival. His study concluded that high flow events help maintain the biodiversity of fish within the lower Brazos River. Rodger is a 2014–2015 Mills Scholarship recipient. These scholarships, funded by the W.G. Mills Scholarship Memorial Endowment and administered by the Texas Water Resources Institute, support… Read More →
Caroline Arantes receives Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award
Doctoral student Caroline Arantes received the 2015 College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Graduate Research. This award recognizes and encourages excellence in graduate student research for both master’s and Ph.D. students. The Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Awards are the highest awards in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences presented to faculty, staff and students. She will receive a framed award, embossed pen and a $500 monetary award. This award will be presented during the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, September 16 at 3:00 p.m. in… Read More →
If you rebuild it, they will come back
Re-establishing environmental flows in Caddo Lake brings back the paddlefish By Sara Carney When visitors travel to Caddo Lake on the Texas-Louisiana border, they may see people canoeing on the blue-green water, navigating between the towering bald cypress trees and the Spanish moss that sweeps down from the branches. They may see fishers catching largemouth bass and families hiking nearby trails. But what visitors might not see is a creature beneath the lake’s surface that is older than the lake itself; in fact, it comes from the oldest… Read More →
New publications added
207. Pease, A.A., J.M. Taylor, K.O. Winemiller, and R.S. King. 2015. Ecoregional, catchment, and reach-scale environmental factors shape functional-trait structure of stream fish assemblages. Hydrobiologia 753:265-283. [PDF] 206. Kaymak, N., K.O. Winemiller, S. Akin, Z. Altuner, F. Polat, and T. Dal. 2015. Stable isotope analysis reveals relative influences of seasonal hydrologic variation and impoundment on assimilation of primary production sources by fish in the Upper Yesilırmak River, Turkey. Hydrobiologia753:131-147. [PDF] 205. Montaña, C.G., C.A. Layman, and K.O. Winemiller. 2015. Species-area relationship within benthic habitat patches of a tropical… Read More →
Dr. Kirk Winemiller Announced as AFS Distinguished Achievement Award Winner for Research
Dr. Kirk Winemiller, a regents professor of wildlife and fisheries sciences, has been selected to receive this year’s university-level Distinguished Achievement Award for Research. Dr. Winemiller was notified of his selection in a surprise announcement by Dr. Bill Dugas, Acting Vice Chancellor and Acting Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The Distinguished Achievement Awards, which are funded by The Association of Former Students, are among the most prestigious awards that can be presented to faculty or staff members at Texas A&M University. The selection is rigorous and recipients are… Read More →