The Fish Ecology Research Laboratory (FERL) is a
research group composed of faculty, staff research scientists and
graduate students within the University of Idaho dedicated to fostering
an ecosystem approach to fish populations and aquatic systems research.
Traditionally questions pertaining to fish ecology and fisheries
management have been treated in univariate manner such as, “what is the
limiting factor to trout production in this stream?” Increasingly, it
has come to the awareness of managers, researchers and politicians
that fish are just one portion of a mosaic that encompasses the entirety
of the physical and biological matrix of our aquatic ecosystems. Fish
populations can not be studied and managed in isolation from their
systems just as holistic analyses of watersheds must be conducted with
consideration of the aquatic and terrestrial species they contain.
Over recent years we have worked as a unit to broaden the scope of the
research questions we address to include more ecological and
systems-based objectives. Our areas of interest are broad including
fish, invertebrate and riparian species and system processes at multiple
scales. For example, we have been or currently are involved with
studies to evaluate movement patterns of white sturgeon in the lower
Columbia River, assess effects of warm river water temperatures on
energetics and reproductive success of migrating adult salmon, address
ecological impacts of American shad, which is an abundant but exotic
species to the system, assess swimming performance and spawning
distributions of Pacific lamprey, and mapping and evaluate habitat use
by adult salmon in the Columbia River estuary. We are also working with
a host of partners to assess system restoration after dam removal in the
Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington.
