Research Area:  Community Ecology of Riparian Systems, Lakes and Streams; Biology and Functional Morphology of Fishes

Room 716 Dow

Ph: (906) 487-2475

Email: cjhuckin@mtu.edu

Courses I Currently Teach:

Graduate
Aquatic Ecology
Foundations of Restoration Ecology
Grad. Res. Sem. in Ecol. & Env. Sci.
Graduate Seminar

As a community ecologist Dr. Huckins is interested in the species interactions and environmental conditions that influence the distribution and abundance of organisms. Specifically, his laboratory specializes on the population and community ecology of fishes and aquatic macroinvertebrates in aquatic systems. Recent projects conducted by his research group have been focused on aquatic communities in Lake Superior tributaries and riparian systems. Common themes represented in his research include the functional morphology of aquatic organisms and the relationships among these organisms, land use and habitat conditions. They also seek to understand the roles and effects of introduced species on native fishes and their rehabilitation.

His research program is currently focused on two primary areas 1) the ecology and rehabilitation of coaster brook trout (coasters) in Lake Superior and 2) the relationships among riparian communities (fish and macroinvertebrates), local habitat features and land use in riparian systems.

In one project on coasters (brook trout that utilize Lake Superior as adult habitat), he and his graduate students are studying the ecology and population structure of the remaining coaster population known to be reproducing along the south shore of Lake Superior. The sister research project on brook trout addresses the ecology of brook trout in tributaries along the Keweenaw Peninsula and is coupled with an ecological evaluation of a coaster rehabilitation program being implemented by the Michigan DNR with the assistance of the Copper Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

The other major focus of research that he and his graduate students are currently conducting addresses the associations among the history of land use such as selective logging in watersheds of the Upper Peninsula, aquatic habitat and the community and trophic assemblages of aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish.

Selected Publications:

• Webster, C. W., C. J F. Huckins, J. M. Shields.  2008. Spatial Distribution of Riparian Zone Coarse Woody Debris in a Managed Northern Temperate Watershed.  American Midland Naturalist. in press.
• Huckins, C. J, and .E. A. Baker. Migrations and Biological Characteristics of Adfluvial Coaster Brook Trout in a South Shore Lake Superior Tributary. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.in press.
  
• Huckins, C. J, .E. A. Baker, K. D. Fausch and J. B. K. Leonard. Ecology and Life History of Ecology and Life History of Coaster Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis and Potential Bottlenecks in Their Rehabilitation. North American Journal of Fish Management. in press.
  
• VanDusen, P. J., C. J Huckins, D. J. Flaspohler. 2005. Associations among selection logging history, brook trout, macroinvertebrates and habitat in Northern Michigan headwater streams. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 134:762-774.
  
• Osenberg, C. W., C. J F. Huckins, A. Kaltenberg, and A. Martinez. 2004. Resolving within and between population variation in feeding ecology with a biomechanical model of crushing force. Oecologia. 141:57-65.
  
• Bub, B.R., D. J. Flaspohler, and C. J. F. Huckins. 2004. Riparian and upland breeding-bird assemblages along headwater streams in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. J. of Wildlife Management 68:383-392.
  
• Flaspohler, D. J., C. J F. Huckins, B. R. Bub, and P. J. VanDusen. 2002. Temporal patterns in aquatic and avian communities following selective logging. Forest Science 48:339-350.
  
• Klinger, R. C., R. F. Floyd, V. S. Blazer, and C. J F. Huckins. 2001. Nutritional disease of a Lake Victorian Cichlid, Haplochromis (Prognathrochromis perrieri); a clinical assessment. Journal of Aquariculture and Aquatic Sciences 9:228-236.
  
• Huckins, C. J F. 1997. Linkages between morphology, feeding performance, diet, and competitive ability of molluscivorous sunfish. Ecology 78:2401-2414.
  
• Huckins, C. J F., C. W. Osenberg, and G. G. Mittelbach. 2000. Species introductions and ecological consequences: an example with congeneric sunfish. Ecological Applications 10:612:625.

• Huckins, C. J and J. B. K. Leonard. 2003. Efforts to rehabilitate and study coaster brook trout along Lake Superiors south central shore. Invited Article: Michigan Trout, Trout Unlimited 23(4):11-13.