Dr. Mark Poesch

Biography

Dr. Mark Poesch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta and the lead of the Fisheries and Aquatic Conservation Laboratory. He is also an Executive Committee Member (and former President) of the Canadian Aquatic Resources Section (CARS) of the American Fisheries Society, the largest professional fisheries organization in the world, as well as an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, the leading journal addressing original research in fisheries and aquatic ecology. He works with two groups (USchool & Tracking Change) that highlight research opportunities to at-risk youth.

His research focuses on three related objectives in aquatic conservation and fisheries management. The main research objectives are to: 1) understand the loss of aquatic biodiversity due to global change, 2) understand dispersal/connectivity of freshwater fish populations, and 3) develop novel approaches for the management of aquatic biodiversity. Dr. Poesch’s research focuses on developing improved methods for understanding the mechanisms related to the loss of aquatic biodiversity and restoring species and their habitats. Dr. Poesch is a leading expert on preservation and restoration of fish species at risk and has published many scientific papers on fish species at risk. He is a member of both the provincial and federal groups that determine candidate listing of freshwater fish species at risk.

Leadership Roles/ Rôles de leadership

Executive committee member of the Canadian Aquatic Resources Section of the American Fisheries Society

Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science

Selected Publications/ Publications sélectionnées

Incorporating asymmetric movement costs into measures of habitat connectivity to assess impacts of hydrologic alteration to stream fishes
Neufeld K, D Watkinson, K Tierney, & MS Poesch
Diversity and Distributions 24(5):593-604 (May 2018)

Community assembly and the sustainability of habitat offsetting targets in the first compensation lake in the oil sands region in Alberta, Canada
Ruppert JLW, J Hogg, & MS Poesch
Biological Conservation 219:138-146 (Mar 2018)

Morphological divergence of the Threatened Rocky Mountain sculpin (Cottus sp.) is driven by biogeography and flow regime: Implications for mitigating altered flow regime to freshwater fishes
Rudolfsen T, DA Watkinson, & MS Poesch
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 28(1): 78-86 (Dec 2017)

Native North American freshwater species get out of the way: Prussian Carp (Carassius gibelio) establishment impacts both fish and macroinvertebrate communities
Ruppert JLW, C Docherty, T Rudolfsen, K Neufeld, K Hamilton, L MacPherson, & MS Poesch
Royal Society Open Science 4: 170400 (Oct 2017)

Assessing the spread and potential impact of Prussian Carp (Carassius gibelio Bloch, 1782) to freshwater fishes in western North America
Docherty C, J Ruppert, T Rudolfsen, A Hamann, & MS Poesch
BioInvasions Records 6(3): 291-296 (July 2017)

Riverscape genetic structure of a threatened and dispersal limited freshwater species, the Rocky Mountain Sculpin (Cottus sp.)
Ruppert JLW, PMA James, R Taylor, T Rudolfsen, M Veillard, C Davis, D Watkinson, & MS Poesch
Conservation Genetics 18(4): 925-937 (Aug 2017)

Climate change risks, extinction debt, and conservation implications for an endangered freshwater fish Carmine Shiner (Notropis percobromus)
Pandit SN, L Koriala, BM Maitland, MS Poesch, & E Enders
Science of the Total Environment 598: 1-11 (Nov 2017)

Identifying temporal bottlenecks for the conservation of large-bodied fishes: Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fluvescens) show highly restricted movement and habitat-use overwinter
Thayer D, Ruppert JLW, D Watkinson, T Clayton, & MS Poesch
Global Ecology and Conservation 10: 194-205 (April 2017)
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Comparative swimming and station-holding ability of the threatened Rocky Mountain Sculpin (Cottus sp.) from four hydrologically distinct rivers
Veillard MF, JLW Ruppert, K Tierney, D Watkinson, & MS Poesch
Conservation Physiology 5(1): 1-12 (Jan 2017)

Modelling the impact of poaching on metapopulation viability for data-limited species
Camaclang AE, JMR Curtis, MS Poesch, & MA Koops
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 74(6): 894-906 (2017)