Tag: fisheries
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Seven conservation lessons I learned in government work
By Andrew L. Rypel *this is a repost of a blog originally published in 2020. Before joining the faculty at UC Davis, I spent the previous five years as a research scientist at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in Madison, Wisconsin. Apparently this experience is somewhat rare among academics. A peer even once described…
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A “Peak” into California’s Alpine Lakes and their Food Webs
By Christine A. Parisek “The Sierra Nevada is five hundred miles of rock put right. Granite freed by glaciers and lifted through clouds where water, frozen and fine, has scraped and washed it into a high country so brilliant it brings light into night.” – Willard Wyman Alpine lakes are fascinating ecosystems. They are recognized…
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Monster Fish: Lessons for Sturgeon Management in California
By Peter B. Moyle & Andrew L. Rypel If you ever watched National Geographic television and are interested fishes and rivers, you likely have some familiarity with Dr. Zeb Hogan. He hosted a series of shows on giant freshwater fishes, called Monster Fish. He and a colleague also recently published a fascinating book (Hogan and…
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A conservation bill you’ve never heard of may be the most important in a generation
by Andrew L. Rypel This blog is a short introduction to a lesser known federal bill that is one of the most significant pieces of fish and wildlife legislation in decades. In Spring of 2021, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) introduced the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. During July 2021, a separate…
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Defending ‘Rough Fish’
by Andrew L. Rypel Have any of you ever reached a tipping point with some topic, issue, or bone-to-pick? Well, one benefit of being a tenured professor is the ability to speak up when you feel like the science or data call for it. And so, after many years of silent stewing, I finally decided…
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Sometimes, studying the variation is the interesting thing
By Andrew L. Rypel As scientists, we’re trained to key in on ‘response variables’. In my case, fisheries scientists often examine how fish physiology, populations, communities or whole ecosystems react to various environmental drivers or human alteration. Unfortunately, variation in data is too frequently looked upon as a nuisance, an after thought, or worse –…
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Celebrating Black Scientists in Fisheries & Biology
By Kim Luke, Christine Parisek, Rachelle Tallman, Marissa Levinson, Sarah Yarnell, Miranda Bell Tilcock, Andrew Rypel, and Jay Lund In honor of Black History Month, the Center for Watershed Sciences would like to highlight the contributions of Black scientists in our field. These prominent researchers have not only pushed the social and scientific boundaries of…
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Rockin’ with the Rockfish
By Andrew L. Rypel and Peter B. Moyle California is a spoil of natural resource riches. Most times, our California waterblog busies itself with important freshwater resources issues. Yet every now and again, it is refreshing and worth turning our attention to the spectacular diversity and mysteries of our Pacific Ocean. But freshwater is important…
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Initial Sampling of the Carp-DEUM Project
By Kim Luke, John Durand, Rachel McConnell, Aaron Sturtevant, Nina Suzuki, Andrew L. Rypel This spring, the Carp-Dependent Urgent Management (Carp-DEUM) Project began its first round of sampling in the UC Davis Arboretum before the Covid-19 lockdown. The project has two planned phases; a population estimate of common carp (and other arboretum fishes) in the…