Will French

Will French

[email protected]

Conservation Biology, 219 Hodson Hall
1980 Folwell Ave
St. Paul, MN 55108

Education

  • Ph.D (in progress) Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. Advisor: B. Vondracek
  • M.S. Wildlife and Fisheries Science, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD May 2010.
  • B.S. Fisheries and Wildlife, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. May 2007

Research Interests

As far as I can remember I have always been interested in fish, their behavior, and their interactions with their environment. As a child I enjoyed fishing, and maintaining aquariums, both practices I continue today. As an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota I worked for several years as a fisheries field technician with the Minnesota Fish and Wildlife Coop Unit, after which I was determined to pursue a career in fisheries. I am interested in the behavior of fishes; particularly foraging behavior and trophic interactions; and how these relationships can affect aquatic communities. My masters research at South Dakota State University focused on trophic interactions of age-0 and juvenile pallid sturgeon. Working with an endangered species reemphasized to me the value of community scale, as opposed to sport fish oriented management.

My current research involves studying the contribution of UCS species to the winter diets and growth potential of trout in southeastern Minnesota, with an emphasis on consequences of possible food web restructuring related to global climate change.

Project

Predicting and mitigating vulnerability of trout streams.

Presentations

French, W.E., B. D. S. Graeb, S. R. Chipps and R. A. Klumb. 2010. Vulnerability to predation in juvenile pallid sturgeon. 2010 Missouri River Natural Resources Conference. Nebraska City, Nebraska.

French, W. E., B. D.S. Graeb, S. R. Chipps, K. N. Bertrand and R. A. Klumb. 2009. Vulnerability of age-0 pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) to predation. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario Chapters of the AFS Joint Annual Meeting. Duluth, MN.

French, W. E., B. D.S. Graeb, S. R. Chipps, K. N. Bertrand and R. A. Klumb. 2009. Size dependant feeding patterns of pallid and shovelnose sturgeon inferred from stable isotope analysis. 70th annual meeting Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference. Springfield, IL.

French, W. E., B. D.S. Graeb, S. R. Chipps, and R. A. Klumb. 2009. Prey selection by juvenile pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus. Dakota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society annual meeting. Bismarck, ND.

French, W. E., B. D.S. Graeb, S. R. Chipps, K. N. Bertrand and R. A. Klumb. 2009. Prey selection and vulnerability to predation in juvenile pallid sturgeon. 139th annual meeting American Fisheries Society. Nashville, TN.

French, W. E., B. Vondracek, and H. L. Schramm. 2007. Mortality of walleye captured in catch and release tournaments. Minnesota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society annual meeting. St. Cloud, MN.

Publications

French, W. E., B. D. S. Graeb, S. R. Chipps, K. N. Bertrand, T. M. Selch, and R. A. Klumb. 2010. Vulnerability of age-0 pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus to fish predation. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 26: 6-10.

Schramm, H.L., W. French, B. Vondracek. 2009. Mortality of walleyes and saugers caught in live-release tournaments. In M.S. Allen, S. Sammons, M.J. Maceina, editors, Balancing fisheries management water uses for impounded river systems. American Fisheries Society Symposium 62:625-636.

Schramm, H. L., B. Vondracek, W. E. French, and P. D. Gerrard. Factors associated with mortality of walleyes and saugers caught in live-release tournaments. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. In press.

Andvik, R.T., J.A. VanDeHey, M.J. Fincel, W.E. French, K.N. Bertrand, B.D.S. Graeb, and S.R. Chipps. Non-lethal stable isotope sampling of the endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus). Journal of Applied Ichthyology (In Press).