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Matthew O'Donnell (CV)

Contact Info:
Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, USGS/BRD
PO Box 796
Turners Falls, MA 01376

email: modonnell@usgs.gov
office phone: (413) 863-3868
cell phone: (413) 843-4243

Title: Fish Ecologist

Education:
1995 - B.S., Wildlife and Fisheries Biology and Management, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
2000 - M.S., Fisheries Conservation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Research Interests:
I started working with the Ecology Section at the Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center in the spring of 1995, first as a Research Assistant and then as a graduate student. While a graduate student, I worked with Ben Letcher (Ecology Section, Leader) to investigate how cohort- and location-specific growth rates of juvenile American shad may influence outmigration representation and timing (abstract). Upon graduating from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, I worked briefly for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife investigating how water quantity influenced fish communities. Starting in 2000, I worked for the Stock Enhancement Division of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) as project leader for the Kennebec River Anadromous Fish Restoration Program. In this position my primary responsibilities were to oversee an active restoration of American shad, blueback herring, and alewife. In March of 2002, I moved back to Massachusetts to work (again) at the Conte Lab. In my current position I hope to draw from my previous experience with Mass Wildlife and Maine DMR to study how water quantity and habitat fragmentation impacts the growth, survival, and movement of stream and riverine fishes.

Publications:
O'Donnell, M. J., G. E. Horton and B. H. Letcher. Submitted. Use of portable antennas to estimate population abundance of PIT tagged fish in small streams: factors affecting detection efficiency.

Letcher, B.H., K.H. Nislow, M. J. O’Donnell. Submitted. Do pools affect survival and growth rates of stream-dwelling salmonids: moving beyond presence/absence, Ecology.

O'Donnell, M. J. and B. H. Letcher. 2008. Size and age distributions of juvenile Connecticut River American shad above Hadley Falls: influence on outmigration representation and timing. River Research and Applications 24: 929-940.

Letcher BH, Nislow KH, Coombs JA, O’Donnell MJ, Dubreuil TL. 2007. Population Response to Habitat Fragmentation in a Stream-Dwelling Brook Trout Population. PLoS ONE 2(11): e1139. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001139

Letcher, B. H., G. E. Horton, T. L. Dubreuil, and M. J. O'Donnell. 2005. A field test of the extent of bias in selection estimates after accounting for emigration. Evolutionary Ecology Research 7(4): 643-650.

Letcher, B. H., T. Dubreuil, M. J. O'Donnell, M. Obedzinski, K. Griswold, and K. H. Nislow. 2004. Long-term consequences of variation in timing and manner of fry introduction on juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) growth, survival, and life-history expression. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 61(12): 2288-2301.

Kircheis, F.W., J.G Trial, D.P Boucher, B. Mower, Tom Squiers, Nate Gray, Matt O’Donnell, and J.S. Stahlnecker. 2004. Analysis of Impacts Related to the Introduction of Anadromous Alewife into a Small Freshwater Lake in Central Maine, USA. Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, Maine Department of Marine Resources, Maine Department of Environmental Protection. 53 pp.