Current Research

My research deals with the relationship between land use, aquatic habitat, and the distribution and abundance of fish and aquatic invertebrates. Specializing in establishing explicit, mechanistic links between environmental variation with behavior, growth, and survival, I am particularly interested in using basic science to assist restoration, conservation, and management.

• Bioenergetics approaches to habitat suitability modeling for juvenile salmonids
• Effects of forest change on aquatic habitats, invertebrates, and fishes
• Using genetic and stable isotope markers to understand Atlantic salmon movement and dispersal between habitats
• Role of biotic interactions at local spatial scales in determining growth and survival of juvenile salmonids
• Role of anadromous fish in the transport of nutrients and materials to and from freshwater ecosystems
• Effects of hydrologic alteration on river and floodplain ecosystems
• Effects of acidification on Atlantic salmon

Research Interests

• Develop and apply new techniques and technologies to determine the effects of fragmentation associated with dams and roads on brook trout and other native species.
• Develop an adaptive management framework to implement and assess ecologically sustainable flow regimes for notheastern river systems.
• Determine the relationship between long-term changes in forest structure and atmospheric emissions and aquatic ecosystems and communities.
• Understand the role of habitat-dependent interactions between invasive and native species in structuring aquatic communities.

Why This Research is Important

Freshwater ecosystems in New England and the northeastern US are strongly influenced by past and present anthropogenic change. In order for managers and stakeholders to make decisions based on sound science, we need to understand the links between land use change, freshwater ecosystems and sustainable fish populations, and effectively communicate this knowledge.

Education

• Dartmouth College, Ph.D. 1997
• University of New Mexico, M.S. 1989
• University of New Mexico, B.S. 1987

Professional Organizations

• American Fisheries Society, Associate Editor
• North American Benthological Society
• Fisheries Society of the British Isles
• Ecological Society of America
• The Nature Conservancy, Technical Advisor
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Technical Advisor
• Maine Atlantic Salmon Recovery Team, Technical Advisor
• Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Commission, Technical Advisor

Featured Publications & Products

• Ward, Darren M.; Nislow, Keith H.; Chen, Celia Y.; Folt, Carol L. 2010. Rapid, efficient growth reduces mercury concentrations in stream-dwelling Atlantic salmon.
• Laser, Melissa; Jordan, James; Nislow, Keith. 2009. Riparian forest and instream large wood characteristics, West Branch Sheepscot River, Maine, USA.
• Nislow, Keith H.; Lowe, Winsor H. 2003. Influences of logging history and stream pH on brook trout abundance in first-order streams in New Hampshire.

Publications

• Zaidel, Peter A.; Roy, Allison H.; Houle, Kristopher M.; Lambert, Beth ; Letcher, Benjamin H.; Nislow, Keith H.; Smith, Christopher . 2020. Impacts of small dams on stream temperature.
• Auer, Sonya K.; Bassar, Ronald D.; Turek, Daniel ; Anderson, Graeme J.; McKelvey, Simon ; Armstrong, John D.; Nislow, Keith H.; Downie, Helen K.; Morgan, Thomas A. J.; McLennan, Darryl ; Metcalfe, Neil B. 2020. Metabolic Rate Interacts with Resource Availability to Determine Individual Variation in Microhabitat Use in the Wild.
• Childress, Evan S.; Nislow, Keith H.; Whiteley, Andrew R.; O'Donnell, Matthew J.; Letcher, Benjamin H. 2019. Daily estimates reveal fine-scale temporal and spatial variation in fish survival across a stream network.
• McLennan, Darryl ; Auer, Sonya K.; Anderson, Graeme J.; Reid, Thomas C.; Bassar, Ronald D.; Stewart, David C.; Cauwelier, Eef ; Sampayo, James ; McKelvey, Simon ; Nislow, Keith H.; Armstrong, John D.; Metcalfe, Neil B. 2019. Simulating nutrient release from parental carcasses increases the growth, biomass and genetic diversity of juvenile Atlantic salmon.
• Dixon, Simon J.; Sear, David A.; Nislow, Keith H. 2018. A conceptual model of riparian forest restoration for natural flood management.
• Auer, Sonya K.; Anderson, Graeme J.; McKelvey, Simon ; Bassar, Ronald D.; McLennan, Darryl ; Armstrong, John D.; Nislow, Keith H.; Downie, Helen K.; McKelvey, Lynn ; Morgan, Thomas A.J.; Salin, Karine ; Orrell, Danielle L.; Gauthey, Alice ; Reid, Thomas C.; Metcalfe, Neil B. 2018. Nutrients from salmon parents alter selection pressures on their offspring.
• Letcher, Benjamin H.; Walker, Jeffrey D.; O'Donnell, Matthew J.; Whiteley, Andrew R.; Nislow, Keith H.; Coombs, Jason A. 2018. Three Visualization Approaches for Communicating and Exploring Passive Integrated Transponder Tag Data.
• Penaluna, Brooke E.; Reeves, Gordon H.; Barnett, Zanethia ; Bisson, Peter A.; Buffington, John M.; Dolloff, Andy ; Flitcroft, Rebecca ; Luce, Charles H.; Nislow, Keith ; Rothlisberger, John ; Warren, Mel.  . 2018. Using natural disturbance and portfolio concepts to guide aquatic-riparian ecosystem management.
• Robinson, Zachary L.; Coombs, Jason A.; Hudy, Mark ; Nislow, Keith H.; Letcher, Benjamin H.; Whiteley, Andrew R. 2017. Experimental test of genetic rescue in isolated populations of brook trout.
• Myers, Bonnie J.E.; Dolloff, C. Andrew; Webster, Jackson R.; Nislow, Keith H.; Fair, Brandon; Rypel, Andrew L. 2017. Fish assemblage production estimates in Appalachian streams across a latitudinal and temperature gradient.
• Kanno, Yoichiro; Letcher, Benjamin H.; Rosner, Ana L.; O'Neil, Kyle P.; Nislow, Keith H. 2015. Environmental Factors Affecting Brook Trout Occurrence in Headwater Stream Segments.
• Daniels, Amy; Shaw, Nancy; Peterson, Dave; Nislow, Keith; Tomosy, Monica; Rowland, Mary. 2014. Facing climate change in forests and fields.
• Daniels, Amy; Shaw, Nancy; Peterson, Dave; Nislow, Keith; Tomosy, Monica; Rowland, Mary. 2014. Facing climate change in forests and fields: U.S. Forest Service taps into science-management partnerships.
• Wilson, Matthew K.; Lowe, Winsor H.; Nislow, Keith. 2014. Family richness and biomass of understory invertebrates in early and late successional habitats of northern New Hampshire.
• Kanno, Yoichiro; Letcher, Benjamin H.; Coombs, Jason A.; Nislow, Keith H.; Whiteley, Andrew R. 2014. Linking movement and reproductive history of brook trout to assess habitat connectivity in a heterogeneous stream network.
• Marks, Christian O.; Nislow, Keith H.; Magilligan, Francis J. 2014. Quantifying flooding regime in floodplain forests to guide river restoration.
• Trumbo, Bradly A.; Nislow, Keith H.; Stallings, Jonathan; Hudy, Mark; Smith, Eric P.; Kim, Dong-Yun; Wiggins, Bruce; Dolloff, Charles A. 2014. Ranking site vulnerability to increasing temperatures in southern Appalachian brook trout streams in Virginia: An exposure-sensitivity approach.
• Whiteley, Andrew R.; Coombs, Jason A.; Letcher, Benjamin H.; Nislow, Keith H. 2014. Simulation and empirical analysis of novel sibship-based genetic determination of fish passage.
• Robertsen, Grethe; Armstrong, John D.; Nislow, Keith H.; Herfindal, Ivar; McKelvey, Simon; Einum, Sigurd; Genner, Martin. 2014. Spatial variation in the relationship between performance and metabolic rate in wild juvenile Atlantic salmon.
• Jane, Stephen F.; Nislow, Keith H.; Whiteley, Andrew R. 2014. The use (and misuse) of archaeological salmon data to infer historical abundance in North America with a focus on New England.
• Lerman, Susannah B.; Nislow, Keith H.; Nowak, David J.; DeStefano, Stephen; King, David I.; Jones-Farrand, D. Todd. 2014. Using urban forest assessment tools to model bird habitat potential.
• Berger, Alaina L.; Palik, Brian; D'Amato, Anthony W.; Fraver, Shawn; Bradford, John B.; Nislow, Keith; King, David; Brooks, Robert T. 2013. Ecological impacts of energy-wood harvests: lessons from whole-tree harvesting and natural disturbance.
• ​Kasprak, A.; Magilligan, F. J.; Nislow, K. H.; Snyder, N. P. 2012. A Lidar-derived evaluation of watershed-scale large woody debris sources and recruitment mechanisms: costal Maine, USA.
• Armstrong, John D.; Nislow, Keith H. 2012. Modelling approaches for relating effects of change in river flow to populations of Atlantic salmon and brown trout.
• Einum, Sigurd ; Finstad, Anders G.; Robertsen, Grethe ; Nislow, Keith H.; McKelvey, Simon ; Armstrong, John D. 2012. Natal movement in juvenile Atlantic salmon: a body size-dependent strategy.
• Brooks, Robert T.; Eggert, Susan L.; Nislow, Keith H.; Kolka, Randall K.; Chen, Celia Y.; Ward, Darren M. 2012. Preliminary assessment of mercury accumulation in Massachusetts and Minnesota seasonal forest pools.
• Whiteley, Andrew R.; Coombs, Jason A.; Hudy, Mark; Robinson, Zachary; Nislow, Keith H.; Letcher, Benjamin H. 2012. Sampling strategies for estimating brook trout effective population size.
• Letcher, Benjamin H.; Coombs, Jason A; Nislow, Keith H. 2011. Maintenance of phenotypic variation: repeatibility, heritability, and size-dependent processes in a wild brook trout population.
• Ward, Darren M.; Nislow, Keith H.; Folt, Carol L.; Grant, James. 2011. Seasonal shift in the effects of predators on juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) energetics.
• Einum, Sigurd ; Nislow, Keith H.; McKelvey, Simon ; Armstrong, John D. 2011. The spatial scale of competition from recruits on an older cohort in Atlantic salmon.
• Nislow, K.H.; Sepulveda, A.J.; Folt, C.L. 2004. Mechanistic linkage of hydrologic regime to summer growth of age-0 Atlantic salmon.
• Nislow, Keith H.; Armstrong, John D.; McKelvey, Simon. 2004. Phosphorus flux due to Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in an oligotrophic upland stream: effects of management and demography.

Research Highlights

Highlight	Title	Year
NRS-2016-112	IITF and NRS each established a Charter for Urban Field Stations and Networks IITF and NRS officially established charters for Urban Research Stations in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, and Phi ...	2016
NRS-2012-02	Scientist Refines Models Relating River Flows to Fish Habitat and Population Dynamics To generate robust preductions, models need to acknowledge the complex life histories of riverine and diadromous fishes	2012