Erika J. Eliason

Research Scientist
Ecosystem Sciences Division, Science Branch
Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Affiliate Faculty – UC Santa Barbara
Affiliate Faculty – University of British Columbia
Adjunct Faculty – Simon Fraser University

email: eliason@ucsb.edu; erika.eliason@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Google Scholar | Orcid | ResearchGate

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Postdoctoral Fellows

Kim Birnie-Gauvin

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2021-2024

Current position: Researcher, Danish Technical University

Research Overview: Intraspecific differences in energetics, swim performance and upper thermal tolerance limits across Pacific salmon species.

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Naomi Pleizier

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-2025

Current position: Biologist, Nova Pacific

Research Overview: Maximum swimming performance in adult salmon.

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Gail Schwieterman

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2020-2022

Current position: Assistant Professor at University of Maine

Research Overview: Cardiac responses to thermal variability; mechanisms of cardiac collapse at upper thermal limits.

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Alex Little

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016-2019

Current position: Assistant Professor at McMaster University

Research Overview: Mechanisms of sex-specific differences in mortality in Pacific salmon; costs and limits of phenotypic plasticity.

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PhD Students

Jacey Van Wert

PhD Student, 2018-2024

Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, NOAA

Thesis: Conservation Physiology of Fishes in the Anthropocene

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Emily Hardison

PhD Student, 2017-2023

Current position: NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh

Thesis: Feeding for resilience: how nutrition mediates organismal responses to temperature

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Terra Dressler

PhD Student, 2017-2023

Current position: Fisheries Biologist, Stillwater Consulting

Thesis: Distribution, thermal tolerance, and vulnerability of stream fishes in a warming world

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Jasmine Childress

PhD Student, 2020-2023; Co-advised by Kevin Lafferty

Current position: Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Thesis: The parasite ecology of the San Miguel Island Fox, Urocyon littoralis littoralis

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Krista Kraskura

PhD Student, 2017-2022

Current position: Assistant Professor at Towson University

Thesis: Causes and consequences of body size-specific vulnerability to warming in fishes

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James Leo Loving Lichtenstein

PhD Student, 2020

Current position: Assistant Professor at Sacred Heart University

Thesis: Animal personality shapes the outcome of species interactions and thereby the structure of ecosystems

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MSc Students

Madison Heard

MS Student, 2021-2023

Thesis: The Effect of Fluctuating Temperature and Diet on the Cardiac Thermal Performance of the California Killifish (Fundulus parvipinnis)

 

 

Jessica Madden

MS Student, 2019-2023; Co-advised by Jenny Dugan

Thesis: Temporal variation and ontogenetic shifts in the diet of a surf zone fish, the barred surfperch, Amphistichus argenteus

 

 

Noa Mayer

MS Student, 2021-2022; University of British Columbia, co-advised by Scott Hinch

Thesis: Thermal tolerance of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) Methodological and inherent variability in upper thermal tolerance limits and their use in assessing vulnerability to climate change

 

 

Clay Steell

MSc Student, 2016-2018; Carleton University, co-advised by Steven J. Cooke

Thesis: An appetite for invasion: invasive lionfish have lower costs of digestion at high temperatures and a feeding physiology that may drive their impact

 

 

Tanya Prystay

MSc Student, 2016-2018; Carleton University, co-advised by Steven J. Cooke

Thesis: Exploring the relationship between physiological performance and reproductive investment in wild fish using heart rate biologgers

 

 

Melissa Dick

MSc Student, 2014-2016; Carleton University, co-advised by Steven J. Cooke

Thesis: The physiological, behavioural, and survival consequences of two radio transmitter attachment techniques on migrating adult sockeye salmon

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Undergraduate Students

We have had the pleasure of working with over 45 talented and diverse undergraduate students.