People

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


Postdoctoral Fellows

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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

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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

Google Scholar

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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)

 

 


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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

 

 


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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



Undergraduate Students

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