 |
Chas. Gowan |
 |
Shannon White '10 |
Randolph-Macon College
Biology Professor Chas. Gowan presented a paper at the International Congress on the Biology of Fish in Barcelona, Spain. The Congress, sponsored by the American Fisheries Society, was held at the Campus of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona July 5-9, 2010.
“The conference brings together people involved with fish,” explains Gowan. “It is a fish-friendly research conference that covers a broad spectrum of research, from aquaculture to DNA to ecology to climate change.”
Gowan presented an invited paper titled
Demographic responses of trout populations two decades after habitat manipulation in five Colorado streams. He explains his research:
“Our research showed previously that increased trout populations following habitat manipulation were due to connectivity to unmanipulated reaches, but studies lasting decades or more are lacking,” he says. “We evaluated the efficacy of log-drop structures more than 20 years after initial installation by quantifying structure longevity, effects on physical habitat, and effects on juvenile and adult trout abundance. Log drops were installed in six Colorado streams in 1987 and 1988, and habitat and fish abundance were measured annually through 1994. In 2009, we resampled five of the streams, finding results similar to those from 1988 to 1994. All but two of 53 logs were functioning normally. Mean and total pool volume continued to be higher in treatment sections than adjacent controls. Abundance of adult (but not juvenile) trout remained higher in treatment sections. We conclude that ongoing connectivity (via fish movement) to unmanipulated reaches is responsible for maintaining the observed treatment effect over time.”
Also attending the conference was recent R-MC graduate Shannon White ’10, who has been involved in Gowan’s research for several years. “The conference was a very exciting opportunity for me,” says White. “I had the chance to meet other professionals and learn about research that is being conducted all over the world. I hope to apply some of that new information to future projects. There were also several presentations that closely related to work I did at R-MC and work I will do at Virginia Tech while at graduate school, so it was very beneficial for me to work with other authors.” White will be attending the Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources in the fall.
Gowan, the Paul H. Wornom, M.D., Chair in Biological Sciences at R-MC, was invited to speak at the Congress by Dr. Christos Katopodis from the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, Canada, who organized a special session on habitat connectivity. “This was a wonderful opportunity, as the Wornom Professorship funds sponsored me at the conference,” says Gowan. “It was great to meet people and put faces to names from papers I have read over the years.”
Gowan earned his B.S. from State University of New York, his M.S. from Michigan State University and his Ph.D. from Colorado State University. The Paul H. Wornom, M.D., Professorship in Biological Sciences was established in 1999 by Dr. Paul Wornom ’37. It recognizes a senior member of the biology department for exemplary teaching and scholarship. Dr. Wornom is a retired family practice physician who specialized in allergies, arthritis and immunology. In 2006, he also established a scholarship which is awarded to students interested in careers in medicine.