Degree:

M.S. Animal Biology, UC Davis (2022)

B.S. Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Biology, UC Davis. (2018)

Research Interests:

I am interested in studying how varying environmental conditions can affect fishes’ physiological responses and behavior. I am particularly curious about learning how fish are adapted to their specific environments and discovering how anthropogenic alterations to habitat and climate change lead to changes in distribution, range, and complete loss of suitable habitat for the fish.

At the Fish Conservation Physiology Lab, I have assisted in many research projects including a green sturgeon growth study based on temperature and feed rates, testing of fish guidance structures to direct sturgeon in varying flows. I am also adept at fish husbandry and data entry. While in the lab, I have also assisted graduate students with their experiments including predation studies on larval green sturgeon, aerobic performance of Chinook salmon, and assessing the critical thermal maxima of delta smelt.

My Master’s thesis focused on the effects of thiamine deficiency on the survival, physiology, and behavior of early life-stage winter-run Chinook salmon.

Publications:

Steel, A.E., T. Nguyen, D.E. Cocherell, K.J. Carr, H.N. Bell, A.E. Agosta, M.L. Kavvas, N.A. Fangue. 2022. Experimental evaluation of louver guidance efficiency for green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris). River Research and Applications, in press.