Mather, Martha
Presently, I direct a program of research, education, and service focused on fish and fisheries ecology that addresses applied conservation and restoration problems. Specifically, I am interested in problems related to (1) the ecology of freshwater, anadromous, and coastal fishes, (2) processes that structure freshwater and estuarine fish communities, (3) patterns, mechanisms, consequences of fish movements; (4) how to use community ecology to devise fish sampling regimes that aid conservation, management, and restoration, (5) basic research that address fisheries problems including stock enhancement, especially related to recreational fishing, (6) quantitative tools, and (7) integrated bio-social approaches to natural resource conflicts. These seven topic areas fall under the overarching programmatic themes of applied fish and fisheries ecology and how interdisciplinary approaches can be applied to natural resource problems. Conceptually, I approach these topic areas by addressing: (a) how abiotic and biotic factors drive fish distribution and abundance, (b) variations in patterns and processes across systems and through time, and (c) the role of human impacts.