[Image: Photo of LUMCON facility]
Fisheries faculty in the LSU AgCenter's School of Renewable Natural Resources are housed in the Renewable Natural Resources Building on the main campus, which provides more than 4,600 square feet of wet/dry laboratory space supporting research projects in limnology, physiology, invertebrate biology and fisheries biology and ecology. Boats and field equipment are stored at the St. Gabriel Research Station, 11 miles from campus. Summer field courses are offered by LUMCON, the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie, La. LUMCON, which is sponsored by all universities in the state, provides support for estuarine and marine research in the Louisiana coastal zone.
Research activities of the fisheries program at the LSU AgCenter cover virtually every facet of fisheries science. Natural fisheries field teams are equipped with the latest in water-quality monitoring devices as well as an extensive array of gear designed to aid in capture and study of vertebrate and invertebrate aquatic organisms. Laboratory tanks and equipment are available for use in a number of research projects, including fish and invertebrate behavior, energetics and physiology. Fisheries research projects at the LSU AgCenter have focused on topics involving water quality, phytoplankton and zooplankton dynamics, and the ecology of larval, juvenile and adult fishes in freshwater, estuarine and marine systems. Research emphasis is currently directed toward:
- Temporal and spatial patterns of freshwater larval fish abundance
- Effects of physicochemical variables on larval fish ecology
- Fish movement patterns and habitat utilization
- Water quality impacts on fish reproduction
- Environmental effects on macrophyte community composition
- Effects of hypoxia on fish physiology
- Effects of flood control on water circulation and habitat quality in the Mississippi River and Atchafalaya River
- Adult fish assemblage structure in relation to water quality and habitat structure
- Behavioral ecology of juvenile and adult fishes associated with aquatic macrophytes
- Relationships between Mississippi River discharge and production of commercial fishes
- Forest harvesting impacts on stream water quality and macroinvertebrates fish distribution and abundance
- Effects of aquatic macrophytes on epiphytic and benthic macroinvertebrates
- Benthic invertebrate ecology and production
- Effects of water quality and macroinvertebrates on detrital decomposition
- Relationships among water quality, habitat complexity, species composition and abundance of littoral and limnetic zooplankton assemblages
- Nursery value of riverine overflow habitats
- Effects of exotic introductions on native fish population genetics and fisheries production
- Ecology of threatened and endangered fishes
- Quantifying/identifying essential fish habitat for nearshore marine fishes
- Restoration and management of coastal/estuarine ecosystems
- Ecology of coastal vegetation