Ryan Crouch

Areas of research I focus on include Aquatic Ecology, Community Biology, and Aquatic Resource Management. My Master's thesis investigates the success of yellow perch populations in upground reservoirs located through northwest Ohio. I am looking at which variables are most importnat to the life history of the yellow perch in those systems. These variables include prey avalability (does the perch have sufficent prey for each life stage), substrate type, nutrient levels in the water, water quality, predation, and physical structure of reservoirs. All of these variables are important in some form as perch progress from larval stage to juvenile stage to adult stage. To answer this question, I am collecting information about these variables from 9 reservoirs, and then will analyze which ones are important for perch growth. In addition to this, the Ohio DNR will be stocking a subset of these reservoirs with larval yellow perch in hopes of identifying where in the life history of the yellow perch the problems are occuring. I will be monitoring these stocked fish through various sampling methods at specific times of the year to see how growth is progressing, and identify which reservoirs have high growth and which have low growth. In the future, after data is collected, a classification system will be developed so that all upground reservoirs can be identified as good for perch, mediocre for perch, or bad for perch.