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James E. Garvey

James Garvey, Professor

Zoology

Many investigators have assumed that the bioenergetics of ectotherms respond similarly to conditions along environmental gradients.

My colleagues and I have been challenging this view, finding that energetic adaptations can influence growth and behavior of fish along broad latitudinal gradients. Current research is exploring how adaptations influence biotic interactions in young fish, ultimately affecting their recruitment to older life stages.

I also am interested in understanding how fish life histories respond to natural variation in ecosystem characteristics and human-induced perturbations such as exploitation and habitat alteration. Changes in life histories (e.g., schedules of maturation, growth rates, timing of reproduction) will greatly affect population structure and dynamics. My students and I are exploring these complex issues in a variety of systems including sturgeon populations in the Upper Mississippi River and catfish assemblages in the Wabash River.

The movement of fish in aquatic ecosystems is driven by both abiotic (e.g., temperature, oxygen, flow) and biotic (e.g., competition, predator avoidance, food availability) factors. Presumably, fish move to find habitats that are closest to their "optimal" physiological and reproductive requirements. In rivers, fish may move into backwater or tributary habitats to reproduce or to evade adverse conditions in the main channel, such as cold temperatures and high flow. A current group of students is exploring the relative importance of riverine versus tributary habitats in Smithland Pool of the Ohio River, and relating this to seasonal changes in abiotic conditions. Our hope is that this research will be used to provide guidance for habitat improvement projects. Because navigation by barges may alter flow regimes at main channel habitats and influence habitat for fish, this research may lend insight into the potential effects of navigation on resident fish assemblages.

SIU James E. Garvey 173A Life Science II
618-536-7761
jgarvey@siu.edu

Education

Ph.D.,Ohio State University

Courses Taught

Conservation Biology (ZOOL 410), Fish Stock Assessment (ZOOL 468)

Areas of Interest

Fish Ecology, Fish Management, Food Web Dynamics, Bioenergetics

Selected Recent Publications

 

  1. Schaffer, G.Q., Maxson, K.A, Whitten Harris, A.L., Johnson, A.L., Kennedy, P.J., DeBoer, J.A., Garvey, J.E., Davis, C., and Coulter D.P. In press. Spatial and temporal relationships of zooplankton and planktivores in an invaded large river ecosystem. Frontiers in Freshwater Science.
  2. Fendler, T. E., Diebel, M.W., Bastille-Rousseau, G., Garvey, J.E., Coulter, D.C. Four decades of chlorophyll trends in US rivers. Science of the Total Environment. In press.
  3. Catalano, A., Coulter, A. Glover, D. and Garvey J.E., Evaluating the use of an established invasive species to predict the movement of an encroaching invader. In press. Animal Biotelemetry.
  4. Wieland, A, Coulter, A., and Garvey J.E., (2025) Comparing long-term mortality of individual invasive silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) between two large rivers. Management of Biological Invasions.
  5. Garvey, J. E., Irons, K. S., Behnfeldt, G., & Kwasek, K. A. (2024). Introducing Copi as a Positive Path Toward Combatting Invasive Carps in North America. Fisheries, 49(6), 253-262. DOI:10.1002/fsh.11088
  6. Hintz, W. D., Porreca, A. P., & Garvey, J. E. (2024). Water velocity shapes fish movement behavior. Journal of Fish Biology, 104(4), 1223-1230. DOI:10.1111/jfb.15669
  7. Kallis, J., Erickson, R., Coulter, D. P., Coulter, A. A., Garvey, J., Brey, M. K., Catalano, M., Dettmers, J. M., Irons, K., Marschall, E., Rose, K. A., Wildhaber, M., & Glover, D. (2023). Incorporating metapopulation dynamics to inform invasive species management: Evaluating bighead and silver carp control strategies in the Illinois . Journal of Applied Ecology.
  8. Davis, A., Wills, P. S., Garvey, J. E., Fairman, W., Karim, M. A., & Ouyang, B. (2023). Developing and Field Testing Path Planning for Robotic Aquaculture Water Quality Monitoring. Applied Sciences-Basel, 13(5). DOI:10.3390/app13052805
  9. Garvey, J.E., and Whiles, M.R. (2023). Incorporating the riverscape into models of river–floodplain function. Frontiers in Freshwater Science Volume 1 - 2023.
  10. Erickson, R. A., Kallis, J. L., Coulter, A. A., Coulter, D. P., MacNamara, R., Lamer, J. T., J.E. Garvey, Glover, D. C. (2021). Demographic Rate Variability of Bighead and Silver Carps Along an Invasion Gradient. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management, 12(2), 338-353. DOI:10.3996/jfwm-20-070
  11. Bouska, W.; Glover, D.C.; Trushenski, J.T.; Secchi, S.; Garvey, J.E.; MacNamara, R.; Coulter, D.P.; Coulter, A.A.; Irons, K.; Wieland, A. (2020) Geographic-Scale Harvest Program to Promote Invasivorism of Bigheaded Carps. Fishes 2020, 5, 14, doi:10.3390/fishes5030029.d


For more information on my research program, please see my lab webpage.