James T. Peterson
Assistant Unit Leader (Fisheries)
Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
University of Georgia
Athens GA 30602
Office: (706) 542-1166
FAX: (706) 542-8356
peterson@warnell.uga.edu
Education
- Ph.D., Fisheries, 1996,
University of Missouri
- M.S., Biology, 1989, University of Illinois,
Urbana
- B.S., Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution, 1986, University of Illinois,
Urbana
Professional Affiliations
American Fisheries Society
Fisheries Management, Computer Users, and Education Sections
American Statistical
Association
North American Benthological Society
Research Interests
My research focuses on multiple aspects of aquatic
ecology- with an emphasis on stream fish communities. Most of my work has been
in identifying and quantifying the effects of physical and biotic factors on
stream fishes at multiple scales. This includes studies of population dynamics,
community production, and fish-habitat/landscape relationships. Other aspects of
my research include evaluating the efficiency of fish collection and
population-estimation techniques and computer software development. I believe
that the status of natural resources is dependent upon the ability to predict
the impacts of environmental perturbations or differing management schemes.
Thus, the principal goal of my research is to develop the tools and
understanding necessary for effective and efficient fisheries management and
conservation.
Current Research
Modeling fish sampling efficiency
Basin planning models
Estimating detection probabilities for fish sampling
Empirical Bayesian methods for ecological research
Multi-level modeling of fish habitat relationships
The use of decision analysis for fisheries
management
Courses Taught
Quantitative Approaches to Conservation Biology (FORS 8360)
SAS for biologists
Biology and Ecology of Freshwater Mussels
Computer software
CATDAT- a program for parametric and nonparametric categorical data analysis
CapPost-
a program for estimating stream-dwelling salmonid capture, detection, and
posterior presence probabilities