We are hiring two technicians for fieldwork and other tasks for the fall of 2024.  Check out the Jobs page for details! Apply by August 15 - applications will be considered as they arrive.

June 23, 2024 - Part of lab alum Max Kleinhans' MS Thesis research was just published in Marine and Coastal Fisheries. Max analyzed 11 years of recruitment and abundance data on Shortnose Sturgeon in the Altamaha River. Point estimates of annual age-1 recruitment varied between 113 and 1021 individuals, and total population size varied between 452 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 116–2277) and 5054 individuals (95% CI: 2155–13,267).  Recruitment of age-1 juveniles was variable, suggesting that reproduction success is inconsistent between years in the Altamaha River. The results of this study, in combination with previous work, do not show any clear trends in Altamaha River Shortnose Sturgeon population abundance or recruitment. The population seems to be stable, but in the absence of historical population numbers, it is unclear whether the population should be considered recovered or is stagnated in its recovery.

• Kleinhans, M., and A.G. Fox. 2024. Long- term trends in abundance and recruitment of Shortnose Sturgeon in the Altamaha River, Georgia. Marine and Coastal Fisheries 16:e10294. DOI:10.1002/mcf2.10294

May 23, 2024 - Members of the Fox Lab assisted the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in rescuing a sturgeon that was discovered trapped in Spirit Creek, a tributary of the Savannah River in Augusta, GA. Read about it here!

March 12, 2024 - Since the start of 2024, Fox Lab students have presented 13 talks at conferences including Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society meeting in Chattanooga, TN, the Georgia chapter of AFS's meeting in LaGrange, GA, and the Warnell Graduate Student Symposium, in Athens, GA.  Alan Bond, Andrew Lyons, Joey Nolan, Hunter Rider, Sarah Weaver, and Russell Wilson all did spectacular jobs!  The team took home several awards, including:

• Alan Bond: 1st Place Talk in Fisheries and Aquaculture, WGSS

• Andrew Lyons: 2nd Place Talk in Fisheries in Aquaculture, WGSS

• Hunter Rider: 1st Place Talk in Fisheries and Wildlife, WGSS; 3rd Place Student Presentation at GA AFS; and the Georgia AFS Ronnie J. Gilbert Scholarship

January 2, 2024 - The FACT Network has posted a new profile on our sturgeon telemetry research - check it out!  FACT is a consortium of researchers in the southeastern US and beyond who share acoustic detection data.  When the sturgeon we tag in Georgia head elsewhere, we learn a lot about where they go from the information shared with us by other scientists in the FACT Network.  And through FACT, we can let them know when we detect their fish, too!

December 4, 2023 - Congratulations to Aalea Grimes, who presented her senior thesis research today! Aalea dug deep into the lab's mark-recapture data to estimate Atlantic Sturgeon growth rates in the Altamaha River.

September 1, 2023 - We just published a new paper on Atlantic Sturgeon recruitment in Georgia - this paper was the result of years of work by many graduate and undergraduate students, and includes elements of several MS and undergraduate senior theses.  The objective of this study was to quantify recruitment of juvenile Atlantic sturgeon in the Savannah, Ogeechee, and Satilla Rivers. Because we used identical methods in 3 rivers simultaneously, we were able to directly compare recruitment among these populations with that of other populations observed in contemporaneous studies in other rivers. We conducted mark-recapture sampling during 2014–2017 and used Huggins closed population models to estimate annual recruitment. Because there are no historical data for comparison, we evaluated the 3 populations in terms of recruit abundance, variation, and consistency. The Savannah River annually had relatively large numbers of recruits (639–937 individuals). Fewer recruits were produced in the Ogeechee (27–57 individuals) and Satilla (51–134 individuals) Rivers; recruitment occurred in only some years in those rivers. Populations that produce few recruits or do not have regular recruitment may be experiencing bottlenecks preventing recovery.

• Fox, A.G., M.A. Baker, A.J. Cummins, H.S. Evans, Jr., K.L. Cummins, N.Q. Hancock, N.Q., and D.L. Higginbotham. 2023. Recruitment of juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) in the Savannah, Ogeechee, and Satilla Rivers in Georgia.  Fishery Bulletin 121:129-140. DOI: 10.7755/FB.121.3.7 

August 20, 2023 - Congratulations to Mark D'Ercole on the successful defense of his thesis!  Mark's work, '“Flow Regime and Recruitment in Gulf Sturgeon in the Apalachicola River, Florida,” investigated several hypotheses about how river flow at different times of the year was related to annual recruitment of Gulf Sturgeon. Mark's committee consisted of Drs. Hamel and Hazelton, and Dr. Kaesar with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

May 13, 2023 - A paper based on Michael Baker's MS thesis is about to be published in Endangered Species Research! In this study, we compared two modeling approaches to estimate recruitment of age-1 Atlantic Sturgeon and provide an updated index of abundance across more than a decade of sampling in the Altamaha River, Georgia. Both Huggins and VGAM models indicated similar yearly age-1 abundance estimates (Huggins: low of 163 in 2017 to high of 3839 in 2010; VGAM: 312 in 2020 to 4448 in 2010), but the VGAMs provided more direct interpretation for factors that might affect capture probability (e.g. sampling effort, temperature, fish length). Recruitment of age-1 Atlantic Sturgeon in the Altamaha River has remained relatively stable over the past decade. 

• Baker, M., Irwin, B., and A.G. Fox. 2023. Refining capture-recapture recruitment estimation methods for Atlantic sturgeon. Endangered Species Research 51:203–214. DOI: 10.3354/esr01250

Update (July 6, 2023): Publication is now available.

March 27, 2023 - Congratulations to Max Kleinhans for successfully defending his Masters Thesis! His research focused on the Altamaha River, where he investigated the population dynamics of Shortnose Sturgeon and the environmental drivers of juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon Aggregation.  Max's committee members included Drs. Nate Nibbelink, Brian Irwin, and Seth Wenger.

February 22, 2023 - Dr. Fox is a coauthor on a new paper looking at the genetics of Atlantic Sturgeon in the Ogeechee River. One particularly interesting finding was that of the two distinct genetic clusters of fish (likely fall- and spring-spawners), only one cluster was represented in offshore mixed aggregations of sturgeon.

• Wirgin, I., A.G. Fox, L. Maceda, and J. Waldman. 2023. Two Distinct Life History Strategies of Atlantic Sturgeon in the Ogeechee River, Georgia. Diversity 15: 325. DOI:10.3390/d15030325

February 17, 2023 - We just returned from a great Georgia AFS conference on St. Simons Island!  MS students Mark D'Ercole and Max Kleinhans presented their thesis work on Gulf and Atlantic Sturgeon, and undergrad Teagan Walsh presented a poster on her project on Longnose Gar.  Max was awarded 3rd place student talk! UGA had a strong showing at the conference, and there were many excellent presentations from Warnell grad and undergrad students.

February 5, 2023 - MS students Mark D'Ercole and Max Kleinhans gave great presentations at the Sturgeon Symposium at the Southern Division AFS conference in Norfolk, VA.  Mark talked about his thesis research on about the effects of flow regime on recruitment in Gulf Sturgeon in the Apalachicola River, and Max presented on his thesis work on how climate change and water quality influence Atlantic Sturgeon aggregation in the Altamaha River.

January 21, 2023 - The Fox Lab is looking to fill multiple fisheries technician positions for our summer 2022 research season.  Technicians will be based in Darien, GA and Port St. Joe, FL. Please see the posting for additional details.  Closes February 12.

Update: Technician positions filled for 2023.

January 9, 2023 - Three new students joined the lab this semester!  Alan Bond (PhD), Joey Nolan (MS), and Hunter Rider (MS) will be jointly advised by Dr. Fox and Dr. Hamel. Their projects will focus on Atlantic and Shortnose Sturgeon in the Savannah, Ogeechee, Altamaha, and Satilla rivers in Georgia

December 8, 2022 - Mark D'Ercole did an excellent job presenting his research at the first in-person Gulf Sturgeon meeting since 2020!  

August 26, 2022 - The lab just returned from our trip to the national AFS meeting in Spokane, WA.  MS students Mark D'Ercole and Max Kleinhans both gave excellent presentations about their research!  Lab alum Cortney Bunch was also at the meeting.  So much cool science at the conference!

August 5, 2022 - A paper based on Brendan Dula's MS thesis has been accepted for publication!  Brendan documented the effects of 2018's near-direct hit by Hurricane Michael on the Gulf Sturgeon population in the Apalachicola River.

• Dula, B.T., A.J. Kaeser, C.A. Jennings, and A.G. Fox. 2022. Effects of Hurricane Michael on Gulf Sturgeon in the Apalachicola River, Florida. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 151:725–742. DOI: 10.1002/tafs.10384 

May 16, 2022 - Drs. Adam Fox and Marty Hamel seek a PhD student to help lead a research team to assess populations of Atlantic and Shortnose Sturgeon in coastal rivers of Georgia.  Additional Details about the position can be found here.  Application deadline is July 1, 2022 - applications will be considered as they are received, so applicants are encouraged to submit materials as soon as possible.  Start date is negotiable, but the target dates for enrollment are August 2022 (fall semester) or January 2023 (spring semester). 

April 29, 2022 - The Fox Lab, in conjunction with the Hamel Lab and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, was awarded a 2022 Species Recovery Grant from NOAA to conduct sturgeon work in the Savannah, Ogeechee, Altamaha, and Satilla rivers in Georgia.  The specific objectives of this project are to (1) quantify Atlantic and Shortnose Sturgeon recruitment, and (2) determine natal river fidelity and spawning periodicity using a microchemistry approach.

February 9, 2022 - A paper based on Daniel Gragson's senior thesis project has just been published in Southeastern Naturalist!  Daniel looked at the pectoral fin rays of Shortnose Sturgeon in the Altamaha and Savannah rivers.

• Gragson, D.L, and A.G. Fox. 2022. Comparison of first and second pectoral fin rays for use in aging Shortnose Sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum, LeSuer, 1818). Southeastern Naturalist 21:1-10.  Link

February 3, 2022 - All of the Fox lab students did an outstanding job presenting at the 2022 conference of the Georgia chapter of the American Fisheries Society.  MS student Max Kleinhans was awarded 3rd place student presentation, and undergraduate Alaina Davis won 2nd place student presentation!

December 27, 2021 - The Fox Lab is looking to fill multiple fisheries technician positions for our summer 2022 research season.  Technicians will be based in Darien, GA and Port St. Joe, FL. Please see the posting for additional details.  Closes February 12.

Update: Technician positions filled for 2022.

October 19, 2021 - A paper on our Gulf Sturgeon work in the Apalachicola River from 2013-2018 has been accepted for publication! This paper encompasses much of the work done by Andrew Marbury and Nathaniel Hancock for their MS theses.

• Fox, A.G., N.Q. Hancock, J.A. Marbury, A.J. Kaeser, and D.L. Peterson. Recruitment and survival of juvenile Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi) in the Apalachicola River in Florida. Accepted for publication in Fishery Bulletin.

Update: Paper available from Fishery Bulletin here.

June 10, 2021 - Michael Baker successfully defended his Masters Thesis, 'Juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon in the Altamaha River: Refined recruitment estimation and investigating the effects of flow regime.'  Congratulations, Michael!  Michael's co-advisor was Dr. Brian Irwin of the USGS Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit, and his committee members were Drs. Robert Bringolf and Cecil Jennings.

April 27, 2021 - Congratulations to Brendan Dula, who successfully defended his Masters Thesis, 'The effects of Hurricane Michael on annual recruitment, mortality, and migration of Gulf Sturgeon in the Apalachicola River, Florida.'  Brendan's co-advisor was Dr. Cecil Jennings, and his committee members were Drs. Robert Bringolf and Adam Kaeser (USFWS).

April, 2021 - MS Student Michael Baker received an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from UGA's Center for Teaching and learning.  This award recognizes the top 10% of teaching assistants demonstrating superior teaching skills while serving in the classroom or laboratory.

April, 2021 - Undergraduate student Daniel Gragson completed his senior thesis and presented his work to the Warnell community.  His research focused on the comparison of first and second fin rays for use in aging Shortnose Sturgeon in Georgia.  Daniel also recently presented his work at the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society's online 2021 conference.

February, 2021 - A paper by Sturgeon Lab alum Andrew Marbury has been accepted for publication:

• Marbury, J. A., A. Kaesar, A. Fox, D. Peterson. 2021.  Experimental passage of adult male Gulf Sturgeon around Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam, FL. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 37:379-388.

Update: Available from the Journal of Applied Ichthyology here.

February, 2021 - MS student Brendan Dula won 1st place fisheries presentation at the 2021 Warnell Graduate Student Symposium in Athens, GA. 

January, 2021 - MS student Brendan Dula won first place student paper at the 2021 Georgia AFS virtual conference.  His talk was titled "Effects of Hurricane Michael on annual recruitment, mortality, and behavior of Gulf Sturgeon in the Apalachicola River, Florida."

Brendan was also awarded the chapter's Ronnie J. Gilbert Scholarship, which is awarded to an outstanding student member of the chapter.

November 18, 2020 - Gina Alvarez successfully defended her Masters Thesis, 'Using video surveys to examine the effect of habitat on Gag occurrence .' Congratulations!  She was co-advised by Dr. Cecil Jennings, and committee members included Dr. Brian Irwin and Dave Gandy (FWCC).

November 9, 2020 - Congratulations to Cortney Bunch for the successful defense of her Masters Thesis, 'Using side-scan sonar to quantify. the spawning runs of Atlantic Sturgeon in the Altamaha River, Georgia.'  Cortney was co-advised by Dr. Cecil Jennings, and her committee included Drs. Richard Chandler and Adam Kaeser (USFWS).

July, 2020 - Sturgeon Lab alum Evan Ingram put together a paper on Shortnose Sturgeon in Georgia:

• Ingram, E., D. Peterson, and A. Fox. 2020. Abundance of endangered Shortnose Sturgeon (Accipenser brevirostrum) in the Altamaha River in Georgia.  Fishery Bulletin 118: 198-204. 

Available from Fishery Bulletin here.

February, 2020 - With Dr. Marty Hamel, Dr. Fox organized a symposium on "Sturgeon population dynamics: a compilation of techniques, tools, and research" at the Southern Divison AFS Meeting in Little Rock, AR.

January, 2020 - Fox Lab students cleaned house at the 202 Georgia Chapter AFS conference.  MS student Michael Baker was awarded 1st place student paper, and MS student Brendan Dula was awarded 2nd place student paper.

Michael was also awarded the chapter's Ronnie J. Gilbert Scholarship, which is awarded to an outstanding student member.

Gina Alvarez received a certificate of appreciation from the chapter for her efforts as President of the UGA Student Sub-unit.

June, 2019 - MS Student Cortney Bunch took home the award for 2nd place presentation at the UGA Graduate Students and Post-Docs in Research Symposium, for her talk "Using side-scan sonar to quantify spawning run size of Atlantic Sturgeon in Georgia."

February, 2019 - Undergraduate Catlin Chapman Wells took home the first place student paper, and MS student Gina Alvarez won 2nd place student paper at the 2019 Georgia AFS conference. 

January, 2017 - BSFR student Hudman Evans won the best undergraduate presentation at 2017 Georgia AFS conference.   MS student Nathaniel Hancock also took home 3rd place presentation paper.