LOCK HAVEN, PA (03/29/2023) Commonwealth University’s (CU) biology
department recently hosted the two-day Pennsylvania State Chapter of the
American Fisheries Society’s 2023 annual meeting at Lock Haven.
Dr.
Diana Rogers-Adkinson, provost, and Dr. Steve Seiler, biology
professor, gave opening remarks about the theme of the meeting:
“Fisheries Science After the Confluence,” referencing the integration of
Lock Haven, Bloomsburg and Mansfield universities into Commonwealth
University and the coming together of students and professionals in
attendance.
“The work taking place in the CU biology department
is a great example of strong collaboration. Faculty across the
department have come together to create a center of excellence, which
expands students’ research and career opportunities,” Rogers-Adkinson
said. “Thank you to our dedicated faculty for their commitment to
providing students these types of hands-on, meaningful experiences that
both demonstrate the value of education and provide students real-world
skills.”
The first day featured 13 platform presentations covering
research projects on topics that ranged from water quality of streams
and lake habitats to fish habitat improvement projects and invasive
species management. The evening student poster session allowed faculty
and professionals from state, federal and private agencies to continue
learning about student research projects and to network.
Commonwealth
University students Sierra Rider and Katarina Frantz both won awards
for outstanding student research at the meeting. Rider, a 2019 Lock
Haven biology graduate and current graduate student at Bucknell
University, was named the Cooper Award winner for her research related
to water temperature in streams flowing through agricultural fields,
forested land or planted riparian buffers. Her work will help steer
conservation funds toward conservation projects that provide the
greatest benefit to stream communities.
Frantz, a senior in the
fisheries program at Mansfield, took third place for her poster
presentation, “Significant Differences in Average pH and Alkalinity
Found Among Streams with Differing Bedrock.”
“Katarina’s work
highlights the long-lasting impacts that acid precipitation can have on
the water chemistry of streams across the northcentral region of
Pennsylvania,” said Dr. Greg Moyer, who was a co-author on Frantz’s
study. “This work allows us to focus conservation efforts on specific watersheds.”
More
than 115 people attended the research talks and poster session. Funds
for student awards were raised by a raffle for fish-related prizes,
including native fish artwork from Jake Raville, a 2019 Lock Haven
graduate.
The second day featured a series of technical workshops
held in the East Campus Science Center. Students and professionals
attended three different workshops to learn about the conservation and
taxonomy of freshwater mussels, the taxonomy of mayfly species and
statistical programming for use in fisheries science.
The
workshops were taught by professionals from the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection and experts in fisheries and aquatic ecology
and allowed participants to earn continuing education credits through
the American Fisheries Society.
The Commonwealth U Watershed
Ecology Center (WEC) board of directors hosted the event and allowed CU
WEC students an opportunity to showcase their research.
Greg
Moyer, Mansfield faculty; and Drs. Steven Seiler, Daniel Spooner and
Heather Bechtold, Lock Haven faculty, served as judges for the poster
session, where more than $1,500 was awarded to students as research or
travel awards.
“We are excited to host this showcase of research
from Pennsylvania streams and lakes and we are excited to plan future
collaborative work to address issues in aquatic communities across the
commonwealth,” Bechtold said.
Numerous biology and WEC alumni
from Lock Haven, Mansfield and Bloomsburg attended the meeting and were
excited to reconnect with colleagues.
“It was great to host this
meeting and to help kindle partnerships with conservation agencies
across the state,” Seiler said. “We are already looking forward to our
students presenting at the 2024 meeting and to continuing our research,
outreach and educational activities in the Susquehanna River watershed through the CU Watershed Ecology Center.”
