Dr. Susan Colvin

Current Projects

This past field season our team sampled fish and macro invertebrate assemblages as well as habitat data above and below culverts in regional streams. Primarily we are interested in if these communities are different and if so why. Many previous culvert research efforts have involved fish passage, we’d like to investigate how these structures affect assemblages and communities. One of our primary focal species is Brook Trout, Maine is a “stronghold” for this species, it’s important we understand how features such as culverts impact this species and the food web around it.

Additional Ongoing Projects

I am also analyzing headwater stream associations of over 700 species of US freshwater fish species. An assessment of the headwater dependency across fish families, region, imperilment and extinction status will expand our knowledge of the potential impacts of headwater degradation on fishes. Over half of US extinct freshwater fishes were headwater or springs dependent indicating the need for conservation of these habitats.

Our Fisheries Techniques class has been monitoring regional streams and ponds for over 30 years, we are analyzing these data to detect patterns in assemblage changes especially due to invasive fish species.

Other projects include investigating fish assemblage variability across stream type, investigating patterns in US fish extinctions, and examining 150 years of evolution in publications of the American Fisheries Society.

Featured Publication

Colvin, S. A. R., S. M. P. Sullivan, P. D. Shirey, R. W. Colvin, K. O. Winemiller, R. M. Hughes, K. D. Fausch, D. M. Infante, J. D. Old

en, K. R. Bestgen, R. J. Danehy, and L. Eby. 2019. Headwater Streams & Wetlands are Critical for Sustaining Fish, Fisheries, & Ecosystem Services. Fisheries 44(2):73-91.

Check out the vimeo link for a brief synopsis of the paper and learn about the importance of headwater streams.

https://vimeo.com/334695877