Areas of research
Moyle's primary areas of research include ecology and conservation of California's endemic fishes and their habitats,the biology of the state's freshwater,estuarine,and anadromous fishes (native and non-native),and the formation of novel aquatic ecosystems.
Much of his early work in California involved surveying the distribution and abundance of native fish species in order to establish a baseline understanding of the scope of the state's fish diversity. This includes research over 40 years of monthly fish and macroinvertebrate sampling at multiple locations in Suisun Marsh. Examples include historical reviews of California's two primary salmon species —Chinook salmon and coho salmon —both of which are the current focus of intense management efforts and public interest because of their endangered population status despite their significant economic and cultural value. Other early projects involved the identification and spatial delineation of different habitat types important to the state's freshwater species that could be used in management planning and application. From the early days of Moyle's career at UC Davis,his reputation of “defending the underfish”(displayed on the Peanuts cartoon outside his office door) has profoundly pervaded the fisheries profession. [2] He started the ichthyology collection at the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology in 1972;today,the collection contains 30,000 specimens and is among the most important modern collections of inland and native California fishes due to Moyle's ongoing involvement. [3]
In addition to research efforts on the Central Valley region comprising the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system,Moyle's research group has conducted studies on the fish faunas and habitats in the Klamath/Trinity River and Eel River systems,the 2nd and 3rd largest river systems of California. His recent work has also focused on the ecology and management of floodplains,and applying reconciliation ecology to the management of the San Francisco Estuary. His current principal study areas are the streams of California and the San Francisco Estuary. He has also recently collaborated with geneticists to further resolve the taxonomic relationships and evolutionary history of specific native fish species that heretofore had been assigned ambiguous taxonomic categorization.
One of Peter's most profound influence on fish biology and fisheries science has been through his extensive cadre of students and other colleagues.
Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management.
Freshwater ecosystems are a subset of Earth's aquatic ecosystems. They include lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, springs, bogs, and wetlands. They can be contrasted with marine ecosystems, which have a larger salt content. Freshwater habitats can be classified by different factors, including temperature, light penetration, nutrients, and vegetation. There are three basic types of freshwater ecosystems: Lentic, lotic and wetlands. Freshwater ecosystems contain 41% of the world's known fish species.
A salmon run is an annual fish migration event where many salmonid species, which are typically hatched in fresh water and live most of the adult life downstream in the ocean, swim back against the stream to the upper reaches of rivers to spawn on the gravel beds of small creeks. After spawning, all species of Pacific salmon and most Atlantic salmon die, and the salmon life cycle starts over again with the new generation of hatchlings.
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus) or Columbia River redband trout. Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and North America. Like other sea-run (anadromous) trout and salmon, steelhead spawn in freshwater, smolts migrate to the ocean to forage for several years and adults return to their natal streams to spawn. Steelhead are iteroparous, although survival is only approximately 10–20%.
Applied ecology is a sub-field within ecology that considers the application of the science of ecology to real-world questions. It is also described as a scientific field that focuses on the application of concepts, theories, models, or methods of fundamental ecology to environmental problems.
Pink salmon or humpback salmon is a species of euryhaline ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the type species of the genus Oncorhynchus, and is the smallest and most abundant of the seven officially recognized species of salmon. The species' scientific name is based on the Russian common name for this species gorbúša (горбуша), which literally means humpie.
An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem found in and around a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms—aquatic life—that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater ecosystems may be lentic ; lotic ; and wetlands.
The Colorado River Delta is the region where the Colorado River flows into the Gulf of California in eastern Mexicali Municipality in the north of the state of Baja California in northwesternmost Mexico. The delta is part of a larger geologic region called the Salton Trough. Historically, the interaction of the river's flow and the ocean's tide created a dynamic environment, supporting freshwater, brackish, and saltwater species. Within the delta region, the river split into multiple braided channels and formed a complex estuary and terrestrial ecosystems. The use of water upstream and the accompanying reduction of freshwater flow has resulted in the loss of most of the wetlands of the area, as well as drastic changes to the aquatic ecosystems - an ecosystem collapse.
The delta smelt is an endangered slender-bodied smelt, about 5 to 7 cm long, in the family Osmeridae. Endemic to the upper Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary of California, it mainly inhabits the freshwater-saltwater mixing zone of the estuary, except during its spawning season, when it migrates upstream to fresh water following winter "first flush" flow events. It functions as an indicator species for the overall health of the Delta's ecosystem.
Located in northern California, the Suisun Marsh has been referred to as the largest brackish water marsh on west coast of the United States of America. The marsh land is part of a tidal estuary, and subject to tidal ebb and flood. The marsh is home to many species of birds and other wildlife, and is formed by the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers between Martinez and Suisun City, California and several other smaller, local watersheds. Adjacent to Suisun Bay, the marsh is immediately west of the legally defined Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as well as part of the San Francisco Bay estuary.
The longfin smelt is a smelt that is found in several estuaries and lakes along the northern Pacific coast of North America.
Freshwater fish are fish species that spend some or all of their lives in bodies of fresh water such as rivers, lakes and inland wetlands, where the salinity is less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine habitats in many ways, especially the difference in levels of osmolarity. To survive in fresh water, fish need a range of physiological adaptations.
An ecosystem model is an abstract, usually mathematical, representation of an ecological system, which is studied to better understand the real system.
The green sturgeon is a species of sturgeon native to the northern Pacific Ocean, from China and Russia to Canada and the United States.
The hickory shad, fall herring, mattowacca, freshwater taylor or bonejack is a member of the family Alosidae, ranging along the East Coast of the United States from Florida to the Gulf of Maine. It is an anadromous fish species, meaning that it spawns in freshwater portions of rivers, but spends most of its life at sea. It is subject to fishing, both historic and current, but it is often confused with or simply grouped together with American shad in catch statistics.
The San Francisco Estuary together with the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta represents a highly altered ecosystem. The region has been heavily re-engineered to accommodate the needs of water delivery, shipping, agriculture, and most recently, suburban development. These needs have wrought direct changes in the movement of water and the nature of the landscape, and indirect changes from the introduction of non-native species. New species have altered the architecture of the food web as surely as levees have altered the landscape of islands and channels that form the complex system known as the Delta.
A wild fishery is a natural body of water with a sizeable free-ranging fish or other aquatic animal population that can be harvested for its commercial value. Wild fisheries can be marine (saltwater) or lacustrine/riverine (freshwater), and rely heavily on the carrying capacity of the local aquatic ecosystem.
Hypomesus nipponensis is a commercial food fish native to the lakes and estuaries of northern Honshu and Hokkaido, Japan, Korea, and Sakhalin, Khabarovsk Krai, and Primorsky Krai, Russia. It has been introduced in other locations, including the San Francisco Delta of the United States. It is raised in fisheries, and is very similar in appearance to the delta smelt.
Timothy R. McClanahan is a biologist and a senior conservation zoologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and is known for his work on the ecology of coral reefs. He lives and works in Mombasa, Kenya, where he studies the marine tropical ecosystems of the western Indian Ocean, and is the director of the WCS coral reefs program for eastern Africa.
James R. Karr is an ecologist, ornithologist, conservation biologist, stream ecologist, academic, and author. He is a Professor Emeritus of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle.
