Zach Zuckerman

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries · Fisheries Research Lab

Identifying prey resource pools supporting fish biomass can elucidate trophic pathways of pollutant bioaccumulation. We used multiple chemical tracers (carbon [δ13C] and nitrogen [δ15N] stable isotopes and total mercury [THg]) to identify trophic pathways and measure contaminant loading in upper trophic level fishes residing at a reef and open-ocea...

Of all marine mammals, the beaked whales are one group for which very little data has been collected, largely due to their elusive foraging strategies associated with extended deep-dives. Mesoplodon europaeus (Gervais’ Beaked Whale) are found throughout the northern Atlantic; however, they are only known in The Bahamas through an extremely limited...

Global climate change is predicted to increase the variability in weather patterns with more extreme weather conditions occurring on a more frequent basis. Little information exists on thermal limits of fishes from highly variable environments. This study evaluated the thermal maximum and minimum of checkered puffers, yellowfin mojarra, schoolmaste...

Catch-and-release angling is growing as a tool for the conservation of fish stocks because it assumes that the impacts of angling are negligible. However, many studies have shown that catch-and-release can be stressful to the fish and even result in mortality. Bonefishing represents a popular catch-and-release fishery in the tropics and subtropics,...

Climate change due to anthropogenic activity will continue to alter the chemistry of the oceans. Future climate scenarios indicate that sub-tropical oceans will become more acidic, and the temperature and salinity will increase relative to current conditions. A large portion of previous work has focused on how future climate scenarios may impact sh...

Largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides broods were experimentally reduced in size to test whether brood size (BS) and simulated brood depredation affect the decision by a male to continue provid- ing care for its brood or to abandon that brood prematurely before its offspring reach independence. The highest ranked of the generalized linear models pr...

Understanding the success of habitat generalist species requires knowledge of how individuals respond to stressors that vary across habitats within landscapes. Habitat structure can affect stress by altering predation risk, conspecific densities, and densities of heterospecific competitors. Increased demand for biofuels will alter habitat structure...

1. Reproductive success of parental care-providing species is contingent upon the level of parental investment into a brood. When the expected fitness contribution of a brood is out- weighed by the costs of parental care (e.g. decreasing parent somatic condition), an individual may reduce its level of care, or may altogether abandon a brood in trad...