OSU scientists collaborate with state and federal colleagues on salmon studies in hatcheries, high-desert streams, estuaries and the marine environment. In addition to those described in the accompanying story, here is a sampling of salmon expertise at OSU.
David Noakes coordinates research at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center, jointly managed with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. In his own research, he studies animal behavior and development, evolution, ecology and genetics. He has focused on fish species from the Arctic to the tropics in freshwater and marine systems.
Guillermo Giannico studies salmon and trout distribution and habitat selection in freshwater and estuarine systems. He has developed educational materials on salmon biology and watershed management in support of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds.
Scott Heppell is a fish ecologist who studies how physiology, behavior and life history traits affect the interactions between fish populations, their respective fisheries and the environment. He has studied the salmon carrying capacity of Eastern Oregon's John Day River and teaches a course on the biology and management of salmon in the Pacific Northwest.
Bill Pearcy is a pioneer in "salmon oceanography." He convened the first scientific meeting on the role of salmon in ocean ecology in 1983 at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon. Starting in 1959, his research focused on Oregon coho salmon and culminated in the writing of Ocean Ecology of North Pacific Salmonids in 1992. He received the 2003 Wooster Award from the North Pacific Marine Science Organization Science Board for lifetime achievement and remains active in research and professional panels.
Hiram Li continues an active research program on fish habitats and the factors (stream temperatures, invasive species and landscape features) that affect aquatic communities. He has evaluated mathematical models of proposed salmon recovery measures, developed an assessment method for regional habitat analysis and testified on salmon restoration before Oregon legislators.