San Diego State University Department of Biology

  Fish Ecology Lab

    [Faculty Advisor]   [Graduate Students]   [Projects and Publications]   [Presentations]

    [Collaborators]   [Funding]   [Lab Alumni]  

[Andres Deza]    [Emily Floyd]    [Colin Jones]

[Levi Lewis]    [Kevin O'Connor]    [Sean Suk]    [Jason Webber]

A little about Emily...

Hello!  I am currently in my fifth year as a Ph.D. student in Ecology at San Diego State University and the University of California, Davis (a Joint-Doctoral program) in Dr. Todd Anderson's lab.  My dissertation research, based primarily at Santa Catalina Island, focuses on the effects of nutritional condition (feeding regime/lipid content) on predator-induced mortality of young blackeye gobies (Rhinogobiops nicholsii) in the field.  Recently, I have conducted experiments to examine how condition and habitat availability interact to determine mortality rates of juvenile blackeye gobies.  This coming summer I plan to explore how the presence of a predator may affect stress levels, feeding behavior, and growth rates for this species.

I developed an interest in fish ecology as an undergraduate at Smith College, a liberal arts college in Northampton, Massachusetts.; while at Smith I traveled to the Bahamas and Belize with a team of faculty and students to assist with a rapid assessment of coral reefs in that region.  As a result, I collected data on fish and algal communities using SCUBA and have written a senior Honors thesis analyzing fish-algal interactions.  After graduating from Smith College, I worked briefly for the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) as a Scientific Aid, assisting marine biologists with an assessment of the Pacific herring spawning population in San Francisco Bay.  While working for CDFG, I applied to graduate programs in fish ecology.  I decided to attend SDSU/UCD because working in Todd Anderson's lab would allow me to perform subtidal research on factors affecting the population ecology of fishes in temperate ecosystems. 

In my second year in the program, I worked with Dr. Joe Cech at the University of California, Davis to examine the behavior of freshwater and anadromous fishes around “trash racks” (man-made structures placed in rivers to prevent obstruction of dams with plant matter).  Native fishes living in the Sacramento River often aggregate around trash racks, becoming prey for striped bass, a dominant predator introduced into this system.  Our experiments have elucidated how trash racks should be designed to facilitate the passage of fish and reduce native fish mortality at these structures. 

When I'm not taking courses or doing research, I enjoy more terrestrial activities, in particular cooking, singing, ballet, and backpacking.

Contact Emily:

Email:  emfloyd@yahoo.com

This page was last modified on April 24, 2007.  

SDSU Fish Ecology Lab

For technical problems contact the webmaster: webmaster@rohan.sdsu.edu

The statements found on the Fish Ecology Lab home page are for informational purposes only. Although every effort is made to ensure that this information is up to date and accurate, official information can be found in the University publications http://www.sdsu.edu.