Position: Graduate Research Assistant
Where: University of Alaska Fairbanks When: June 2022-October 2022 Collaborators: Project PI Dr. Jeff Falke, Lab Biologist Deanna Strohm, Graduate student Will Samuel, Lab technician Jackie Tauberman After defending my master's thesis in June of 2022, I continued working for the University of Alaska Freshwater Fish Ecology Lab through October of 2022 by assisting with various field projects. These included 1) a long-term evaluation of the abundance, health, and movement of Arctic Grayling in tributary creeks of the Chatanika River led by our lab manager Deanna Strohm, 2) the effects and interactions of wildfire and beaver activity on Arctic Grayling health and movement, and 3) development of a model to predict Arctic Grayling presence and abundance using eDNA led by our graduate student Will Samuel. Workdays consisted of traveling from the UAF campus to field sites, hiking in our gear 1-5 miles on foot or with ATVs, setting up a base camp, collecting Arctic Grayling via angling and electrofishing, processing fish to collect length, weight, and body condition and checking for/administering PIT tags, collecting water quality metrics (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc.), and collecting eDNA samples. These backcountry stream locations were both beautiful and challenging, with mosquitos and wildfire smoke ever present, the occasional gear challenge that required quick thinking, and adaptation of our fisheries sampling techniques based on habitat conditions. |