STEM Storytellers: Cutthroat Taylor: Recent Episodes
Taylor Preul
Using the average to drive management policies erases intra-population variation that may be vital in an uncertain future
When planning research projects involving living organisms, we often take for granted how our measurements may affect the well being of our subjects. While planning my research, I was confronted by how stress can affect the sexual development of trout in ways I had never imagined.
Hatcheries have recently come under fire for their detrimental effects on salmon populations, especially those in the Pacific Northwest. However, did you know that there are other, more holistic, types of trout hatcheries being implemented to bring native trout back from the brink of extinction?
The dam-building fervor of the mid 20th century has had far reaching consequences on the anadromous salmon populations of the Western U.S. A 1941 symposium provides some perspective on what fisheries biologists thought of this problem, and what they proposed to do about it.
The observation of a trout is enough to change its behavior and potentially inhibit performance in a hatchery. What are the implications of this “observer effect” in a study which attempts to quantify the “normal” behavior responses of trout? In this episode, I discuss how I was confronted by this effect in unexpected ways while planning my research, and an important lesson I learned from that struggle.