Affiliations:
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Recent Publications:
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Research
Interests:
Integrative and comparative animal
physiology―cardiorespiratory dynamics, myocardial oxygen supply,
coronary physiology and pathology, blood flow regulation,
hypoxia and anoxia tolerance.
Salmon migratory passage, exercise / handling stress and recovery,
sustainable aquaculture, aquatic
toxicology.
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Recent
Awards:
2010 - Beverton Medal, Fisheries Society of the British Isles
2009 - Fry Medal, Canadian Society of Zoologists
2006 - Award of Excellence for Fish
Physiology, American Fisheries Society
2005 - Award of Excellence in Fisheries Management, American Fisheries
Society
2002 - Murray A Newman Award for Excellence in
Aquatic Conservation and Pioneering Marine Research, Vancouver
Aquarium Marine Science Centre
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Recent Honours and Awards in
the lab:
NSERC Post Graduate Scholarship, Ph.D. (2010-2014), G. Cox
GES Star Fellowship, Ph.D. (2010-2014), G. Cox
NSERC Post Graduate Scholarship, Ph.D. (2010-2014), M. Sackville
Research Abroad Grant, Academy of Finland (2010-2012), K.
Anttila
Coho Society Partnership (2010-2012), M. Casselman
DFG Fellowship, German Science Foundation (2009-2011), S. Pieperhoff
NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship, M.Sc. (2009), A. Azzam
Community Stewardship Bursary, Pacific Salmon Foundation (2009), M.
Casselman
Four Year Doctoral Fellowship (2009-2010), E. Eliason
NSERC Industrial Post-graduate Scholarship (2007-2009), C. Verhille
McLean Fraser Summer Research Fellowship (2009), E. Eliason
Killam
Post-doctoral Fellowship (2008-2010), G. Galli
Gov. of Canada Post-Doctoral Fellowship, DFAIT (2008-2009), S.
Pieperhoff
Cameron Award for Best Ph.D. Thesis in Canada (2008), J. A. W. Stecyk
1st Place, Land and Food Systems Poster Competition (2008), M. Nomura
NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (2007-2010), E. Eliason
Killam Post-doctoral Fellowship (2007-2009), T.
D. Clark
Pacific Salmon Forum Grant (2006-2007), E. Eliason
UBC Faculty of Science Achievement Award for Service (2006), E.
Eliason
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Current projects:
Cardiorespiratory physiology of fish:
See
how the swim tunnel works
Spawning migration of Pacific salmon and climate change: Elevated river temperatures during physically demanding spawning migrations have been repeatedly associated with adult mortality in Fraser River sockeye. Post-doc T. D. Clark is investigating the energetic requirements of the migrating fish, while Ph.D. student E. Eliason is testing the hypothesis that cardiac function becomes a limiting factor at high temperatures for these fish.
* Read article in UBC ReportsTriploidy and fitness in rainbow trout: Triploid fish are less tolerant of suboptimal environmental conditions (most remarkably high temperature), possibly due to their enlarged cell volume. Ph.D. student C. Verhille is comparing the cardiorespiratory physiology of diploid and triploid rainbow trout, and relating it to swimming performance and survival.
Primitive fish (hagfish and lampreys): M.Sc. student G. Cox will be looking at anoxia tolerance in hagfish, while Ph.D. student C. Wilson is examining excitation-contraction-coupling in the cardiac myocytes of hagfish.
Pink salmon & Sea lice project: Sea lice from salmon farms are often blamed for the collapse of the pink salmon runs in northern Vancouver Island, however no scientific studies have heretofore quantified how sea lice really affect pink salmon smolts. In collaboration with Dr. Colin Brauner of the UBC Zoology Department, we are undertaking an objective examination of the effects of lice loading on:
- Ontogeny of salinity tolerance in pink salmon (Z. Gallagher)
- The effect of seawater migration and sea lice infestation on metabolic rate and aerobic scope of pink salmon (A. Azzam)
- Swim performance of juvenile pink salmon (L. Nendick)
- Stress physiology of juvenile pink salmon (M. Gardner)
- Osmoregulation in juvenile pink salmon (M. Sackville)
- Growth and smoltification in juvenile pink salmon (A. Grant)
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Recent and past projects:
Stress and recovery during commercial fish transport: Commercially farmed salmon must be transported live from freshwater hatcheries to the saltwater farms, and often from the saltwater farm to the processing plant. M.Sc. student M. Nomura examined changes in plasma chemistry and schooling behaviour in smolts during transport, while a concurrent study by M.Sc. student S. Tang looked at changes in water quality to determine oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide tolerance in adult salmon, as well as final flesh quality.
Anoxia tolerance in reptiles and fish: Freshwater turtles living in temperate climates lie dormant at the bottom of ponds and lakes during the cold season. For his Ph.D. thesis, J. Stecyk examined cardiovascular function in anoxic and normoxic turtles, as well as similar traits in the surprisingly anoxia-tolerant Crucian carp.
Exercise physiology of fish hearts: Intense exercise results in changes, sometimes detrimental, to the extracellular fluids bathing the vertebrate heart. Former M.Sc. student and current lab manager L. M. Hanson used the perfused heart technique to investigate cardiac performance in rainbow trout and in African catfish during hypoxia, hyperkalemia and acidosis at different temperatures, as well as the stimulatory and protective effects of adrenaline.
Nutrition, gut blood flow and growth in rainbow trout: New developments and understanding of the digestive physiology of fish are desired for environmental, economical and scientific reasons. Former M.Sc. student E. Eliason simultaneously measured oxygen consumption, blood flow to the gastrointestinal system and heart rate in postprandial rainbow trout. Oxygen consumption was found to closely correlate with heart rate, which could lead to exciting new research using biotelemetry systems to indirectly monitor MO2. Furthermore, a novel technique to cannulate the hepatic portal vein of fish has been pioneered by E. Eliason in collaboration with researchers in Norway in order to assess nutrient uptake and gut function.
Fish Recovery Box: In collaboration with Dr. Rick Routledge and Dr. Patricia Gallagher of Simon Fraser University and gillnetter Jake Fraser we helped the Department of Fisheries and Oceans redesign a fish recovery box used by commercial fishermen. The recovery box is used to revive coho salmon inadvertently caught as by-catch during other fisheries openings. The newly designed box is highly effective and has drastically reduced coho mortality rates.
Media Coverage on the Fish Recovery Box:
New tank may help save coho
- May 2001
Three researchers named winner
of Newman Award - May 2002
Other Press:
Aquaculture feeds the world,
All Points West, CBC Radio One - Sept. 2009 (transcript)
For tank fish two is not enough company
- July 2009 (Discover News)
A crystal ball for Pacific Salmon - Feb. 2009
Death by degrees
- Feb. 2008
UBC study established formula
for predicting climate change impact on salmon stocks
- Nov. 2008
Highlights
from the literature (featured in Physiol.) - Feb.
2005
Anoxia not
a real heartbreaker, Outside JEB (featured in J. Exp. Biol.)
- 2005
The heart of a carp - Oct. 5, 2004 New York Times
How do homing slamon find their
way back to their home stream? CBC Quirks and
Quarks radio show - June 2003
Researchers focus on water
- Feb. 2002
Farrell awarded honorary degree
- Oct. 2000
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Last updated:March 31, 2010
