Current Research

I conduct research on the biology and community ecology of native, warmwater fishes and crayfishes at various spatial and temporal scales. Research is directed toward understanding mechanisms contributing to the structure of aquatic communities, quantifying the effects of disturbance on aquatic systems, and improving knowledge about the taxonomy, distribution, and life history of crayfishes. Much of my current work focuses on how press (e.g., stream warming, dams, land use changes) and pulse (e.g., major storms) disturbances influence communities. I am also involved in long-term research on sculpin distributions and their changes with stream warming in streams of western Montana.

Past Research

Past research has included:

-Habitat correlates of bull trout in Idaho streams

-Mechanisms of invasion by brook trout in Montana and Idaho

-Movements by sculpin, Rocky Mountain tailed frogs, and boreal toads in western streams

-Life history, habitat use, diet, and population genetics of Alabama shad

-Seasonal and interannual variation in warmwater fish assemblages

-Phylogenetics of crayfishes in the Trisellescens subgenus of the genus Orconectes

-Effects of anthropological disturbances on crayfishes

-Life history and phylogenetics of crayfishes

Education

• The University of Montana, Missoula, Ph.D. Organismal Biology and Ecology 1999
• University of Idaho, Moscow, M.S. Fisheries Resources 1994
• Carleton College, Northfield, MN, B.A. Biology 1986

Professional Organizations

• University of Alabama, Member Of Graduate School (2012 - Current)
• Freshwater Crayfish, Journal of the International Assoc. of Astacology, Editorial Board (2010 - Current)
• Society of Freshwater Science, Member (2010 - Current)
• International Association of Astacology, Member And Past-President (2004 - Current)
• University of Mississippi, Adjunct Faculty (2001 - Current)
• American Fisheries Society, Member (1991 - Current)
• Louisiana State University, Graduate School Affiliate (2012 - 2016)
• University of Southern Mississippi, Adjunct Faculty (2002 - 2013)

Awards & Recognition

Featured Publications & Products

• Barnett, Zanethia ; Adams, Susan. 2021. Review of dam effects on native and invasive crayfishes illustrates complex choices for conservation planning.
• GLON, MAEL G.; ADAMS, SUSAN B.; LOUGHMAN, ZACHARY J.; MYERS, GREG A.; TAYLOR, CHRISTOPHER A.; SCHUSTER, GUENTER A. 2020. Two new species of burrowing crayfish in the genus Lacunicambarus (Decapoda: Cambaridae) from Alabama and Mississippi.
• Barnett, Zanethia C.; Adams, Susan B.; Ochs, Clifford A.; Garrick, Ryan C. 2020. Crayfish populations genetically fragmented in streams impounded for 36 104 years.
• Adams, Susan; Bland, Mickey; Glon, Mael; Myers, Greg. 2020. Ophisaurus ventralis (Eastern Glass Lizard) habitat use..
• Adams, Susan B.; Davis, Blake A.; Miller, Darren A. 2018. Hobbseus yalobushensis, a crayfish of intermittent streams: Biotic and habitat associations, life history characteristics, and new localities.
• Richman, Nadia I.; Böhm, Monika; Adams, Susan B.; Alvarez, Fernando; Bergey, Elizabeth A.; Bunn, John J. S.; Burnham, Quinton; Cordeiro, Jay; Coughran, Jason; Crandall, Keith A.; Dawkins, Kathryn L.; DiStefano, Robert J.; Doran, Niall E.; Edsman, Lennart; Eversole, Arnold G.; Füreder, Leopold; Furse, James M.; Gherardi, Francesca; Hamr, Premek; Holdich, David M.; Horwitz, Pierre; Johnston, Kerrylyn; Jones, Clive M.; Jones, Julia P. G.; Jones, Robert L.; Jones, Thomas G.; Kawai, Tadashi; Lawler, Susan; López-Mejía, Marilu; Miller, Rebecca M.; Pedraza-Lara, Carlos; Reynolds, Julian D.; Richardson, Alastair M. M.; Schultz, Mark B.; Schuster, Guenter A.; Sibley, Peter J.; Souty-Grosset, Catherine; Taylor, Christopher A.; Thoma, Roger F.; Walls, Jerry; Walsh, Todd S.; Cohen, Ben. 2015. Multiple drivers of decline in the global status of freshwater crayfish (Decapoda:Astacidea).
• Schuster, Guenter A.; Taylor, Christopher A.; Adams, Susan B. 2015. Procambarus (Girardiella) holifieldi, a new species of crayfish (Decapoda: Cambaridae) from Alabama with a revision of the Hagenianus Group in the subgenus Girardiella.
• Adams, Susan B.; Schmetterling, David A.; Neely, David A. 2015. Summer stream temperatures influence sculpin distributions and spatial partitioning in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin, Montana.
• Dunham, Jason B.; Adams, Susan B.; Schroeter, Robert E.; Novinger, Douglas C. 2002. Alien invasions in aquatic ecosystems: toward an understanding of brook trout invasions and potential impacts on inland cutthroat trout in western North America.

Publications

• Adams, Susan B.; Gelbard, Elaine M. 2021. American Beavers (Castor canadensis) use a hollow Baldcypress snag as a lodge.
• Adams, Susan; Jones, Robert. 2021. Crayfishes of Mississippi: A provisional checklist with distributions and discussion of unresolved taxonomic issues.
• Barnett, Zanethia C.; Ochs, Clifford A.; Hoeksema, Jason D.; Adams, Susan B. 2021. Not all methods are created equal: assessment of sampling methods for crayfishes and fishes in southern Appalachian streams.
• Adams, Susan B. 2020. An overview of native and invasive crayfish in Mississippi and Alabama.
• Barnett, Zanethia C.; Ochs, Clifford A.; Hoeksema, Jason D.; Adams, Susan B. 2020. Multipass electrofishing sampling efficiency for stream crayfish population estimates.
• Adams, Susan; Hereford, Scott. 2019. Digging deep for crayfish clues.
• Budnick, William R.; Kelso, William E.; Adams, Susan B.; Kaller, Michael D. 2018. A multigear protocol for sampling crayfish assemblages in Gulf of Mexico coastal streams.
• Barnett, Zanethia C.; Adams, Susan B. 2018. Comparison of Two Crayfish Trapping Methods in Coastal Plain Seasonal Wetlands.
• Adams, Susan B.; Jones, Robert L. 2018. Range extensions of three crayfishes (Faxonius yanahlindus, F. placidus, and F. erichsonianus) into Mississippi.
• Barnett, Zanethia C.; Adams, Susan B.; Rosamond, Rebecca L.  . 2017. Habitat use and life history of the vernal crayfish, Procambarus viaeviridis (Faxon, 1914), a secondary burrowing crayfish in Mississippi, USA.
• Mickle, Paul F.; Schaefer, Jacob F.; Adams, Susan B.; Kreiser, Brian R.; Slack, Wiliam T. 2016. Environmental conditions of 2 river drainages into the Northern Gulf of Mexico during successful hatching of Alabama shad (Alosa alabamae).
• Dolloff, Andy; Roghair, Craig; Krause, Colin; Moran, John; Cochran, Allison; Warren, Mel; Adams, Susan; Haag, Wendell. 2016. Spatio-temporal variation in distribution of aquatic species and their habitats in a reservoir transition zone.
• Adams, Susan B.; Roghair, Craig; Krause, Colin; Warren, Mel; Cochran, J. Allison; Dolloff, Andy; Moran, John; McGregor, Stuart W.; Schuester, Guenter A.; Gangloff, Michael; DeVries, Dennis R.; Kendrick, Michael R.; Grove, G. Lee; Wright, Russell A. 2015. New crayfish species records from the Sipsey Fork drainage, including Lewis Smith Reservoir (Alabama, USA): Native or introduced species.
• Adams, Susan B. 2014. Crayfish use of trash versus natural cover in incised, sand-bed streams.
• Taylor, Christopher A.; Adams, Susan B.; Schuster, Guenter A. 2014. Systematics and biogeography of Orconectes, subgenus Trisellescens, in the southeastern United States, a test of morphology-based classification.
• Mickle, Paul F.; Schaefer, Jacob, F..; Yee, Donald A.; Adams, Susan B. 2013. Diet of juvenile Alabama shad (Alosa alabamae) in two northern Gulf of Mexico drainages.
• Adams, Susan B. 2013. Effects of small impoundments on downstream crayfish assemblages.
• Adams, Susan B.; Taylor, Christopher A.; Lukhaup, Chris. 2010. Crayfish fauna of the Tennessee River drainage in Mississippi, including new state species records.
• Mickle, P. F.; Schaefer, J.F.; Adams, S.B.; Kreiser, B.R. 2010. Habitat use of age 0 Alabama shad in the Pascagoula River drainage, USA.
• Adams, Susan B.; Burnett, Kelly M.; Bisson, Peter; Harvey, Bret; Nislow, Keith H.; Rieman, Bruce E.; Rinne, John. 2010. The role of the Forest Service in aquatic invasive species research.
• Adams, S. B. 2008. Female reproductive characteristics of three species in the Orconectes subgenus Trisellescens and comparisons to other Orconectes species.
• Rieman, Bruce E.; Isaak, Daniel; Adams, Susan; Horan, Dona; Nagel, David; Luce, Charles; Myers, Deborah. 2007. Anticipated climate warming effects on bull trout habitats and populations across the interior Columbia River basin.
• Adams, Susan B.; Schmetterling, David A. 2007. Freshwater sculpins: phylogenetics to ecology.
• Adams, Susan B.; Hamel, Paul B.; Connor, Kristina; Burke, Bryce; Gardiner, Emile S.; Wise, David. 2007. Potential roles of fish, birds, and water in swamp privet (Forestiera acuminata) seed dispersal.
• Meadows, Dwayne W.; Adams, Susan B.; Schaefer, Jacob F. 2007. Threatened fishes of the world: Alosa alabamae (Jordan and Evermann, 1896) (Clupeidae).
• Adams, Susan B. 2006. Dainties of the first order.
• Adams, Susan B. 2006. Direct and indirect effects of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) on native crayfishes (Cambaridae) in experimental tanks.
• Adams, Susan B.; Schmetterling, David A.; Young, Michael K. 2005. Instream movements by boreal toads (Bufo boreas boreas).
• Adams, Susan B. 2005. Katrina: boon or bust for freshwater fish communities.
• Adams, Susan B.; Warren, Melvin L., Jr. 2005. Recolonization by warmwater fishes and crayfishes after severe drought in upper coastal plain hill streams.
• Williams, Lance R.; Warren, Melvin L., Jr..; Adams, Susan B.; Arvai, Joseph L.; Taylor, Christopher M. 2004. Basin Visual Estimation Technique (BVET) and Representative Reach Approaches to Wadeable Stream Surveys: Methodological Limitations and Future Directions.
• Adams, Susan B.; Warren, Melvin L., Jr..; Haag, Wendell R. 2004. Spatial and temporal patterns in fish assemblages of upper coastal plain streams, Mississippi, USA.
• Schmetterling, David A.; Adams, Susan B. 2004. Summer Movements within the Fish Community of a Small Montane Stream.
• Adams, Susan B.; Frissell, Christopher A.; Rieman, Bruce E. 2001. Geography of invasion in mountain streams: consequences of headwater lake fish introductions.
• Adams, Susan B.; Frissell, Christopher A. 2001. Thermal Habitat Use and Evidence of Seasonal Migration by Rocky Mountain Tailed Frogs, Ascaphus montanus, in Montana.
• Warren, Melvin L., Jr..; Haag, Wendell R.; Adams, Susan B. 2000. Forest linkages to diversity and abundancein lowland stream fish communities.
• Adams, Susan B.; Frissell, Christopher A.; Rieman, Bruce E. 2000. Movements of nonnative brook trout in relation to stream channel slope.
• Adams, Susan B.; Bjornn, Theodore C. 1997. Bull trout distributions related to temperature regimes in four central Idaho streams.

Citations of non US Forest Service Publications

• Elkins, D.C., et al. 2016. The southeastern aquatic biodiversity conservation strategy. Final report. Athens, GA, University of Georgia River Basin Center: 237 pages. (Adams served on the project advisory board and contributed data and expertise to the project)

Research Highlights

Highlight	Title	Year
SRS-2015-233	Global Conservation Status of Freshwater Crayfish The southeastern U.S. is a major hotspot of freshwater crayfish diversity, says a new global assessment of crayfish conservation status. The rep ...	2015