SAIAB Seminar Series 2026: Professor Pete McIntyre

Описание: Buffering fisheries against environmental changes in lakes: science to guide responses to ecosystem deoxygenation, invasive predators, and aquaculture expansion

Presentation by: Professor Pete McIntyre
Professor of Natural Resources & the Environment, and Director of the Adirondack Fishery Research Program at Cornell University, USA. Honorary Research Associate, NRF-SAIAB.

Rapid changes in freshwater ecosystems are challenging the stability of inland fisheries. Our work develops strategies for safeguarding fisheries in temperate and tropical lakes using insights from whole-ecosystem experiments, sensor technologies, and genomics. In New York, oxygen depletion has compressed summer habitat for trout, yet physiological flexibility allows populations to persist. Experimental stocking reveals performance differences among trout strains, but no 'super-fish' that thrive regardless of deoxygenation. In parallel, we have removed invasive smallmouth bass from a lake for 25 consecutive years, documenting ecological benefits despite its continued dominance. Alas, we also find that evolutionary adaptations to high mortality have made bass harder to control. In Lake Tanganyika, we are striving to minimize collateral damage from aquaculture expansion. We are using eDNA to guide farm siting and detect escapes. Each of these vignettes illustrates how science can guide adaptive management of inland fisheries in the face of rapid environmental changes.

Seminar Series of 12 March 2026.