(2014)
Habitat loss or alteration is one of the main drivers behind global declines in biodiversity. As a result, I am broadly interested in the fundamental connections between a species and its habitat. Recently, I completed work focused on coastal wetlands, using remote sensing and modeling to determine how habitat will respond to predicted changes in water levels. Working in aquatic habitat peaked my interest in fish movement. To this end, I looked at habitat selection by fishes in and among coastal wetlands. Moving forward, I am increasingly curious about the mechanisms behind fish habitat selection and the factors that drive their movement.
My earlier work was focused more at the landscape level and I hope to learn more about fish movement, fish physiology, and telemetry during my time in the Cooke Lab. I am excited to be involved in multiple projects. In early March, I had the opportunity to travel to Denmark to start a study looking at the impact of stress on the out-migration of brown trout. We will hopefully get data for this study in late May or early June. In Watt’s Creek we have started a study to determine how the fish community will respond following habitat restoration. We will also look at habitat selection and movement of fish species in the creek. Some other projects are in the pipe, so I will update the website once things get finalized.
Background
2007-2012 – Ph.D. in Aquatic Ecology, McMaster University Department of Biology, Hamilton, ON
2002-2007 – B.Sc. in Biodiversity, McMaster University Department of Biology, Hamilton, ON
Lab Publications (41)
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Piczak, M. L., Berhe, S., Knag, A. C., Lennox, R. J., Vollset, K. W., Portiss, R., Midwood, J. D. and Cooke, S. J. In Press. Evaluating ecological restoration in urban ecosystems with acoustic telemetry: marine and freshwater case studies. Urban Ecosystems. 00:000-000.
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Larocque, S.M., C.M. Boston, J.L. Brooks, J.W. Brownscombe, S.J. Cooke, S.E. Doka, and J.D. Midwood. 2024. Telemetry-derived seasonal fish-habitat associations and spatial use in the Hamilton Harbour Area of Concern in western Lake Ontario. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 3593. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ottawa.
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Reid, C.H., Berberi, A., Scott, K., Woods, S., Midwood, J.D., & Cooke, S.J. 2024. Evaluating immobilisation thresholds and suitability of conductive glove electrodes for largemouth bass electroanaesthesia. Fisheries Research. 272: 106931.
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Croft-White, M.V., S.M. Larocque, D. Reddick, P. Smith, S.J. Cooke and J.D. Midwood. 2023. Diversity of movement patterns of Longnose Gar tracked in coastal waters of western Lake Ontario. Environmental Biology of Fishes. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-023-01491-1. -
Boston, C.M., R.W.K. Tang, J.L. Brooks, S. Larocque, J.A. Bowman, S.J. Cooke and J.D. Midwood. 2024. Life outside the fishbowl: tracking an introduced population of Goldfish (Carassius auratus) in an embayment on the Laurentian Great Lakes. Journal of Great Lakes Research. 50:102253.
Other Publications
Jepsen, N., Boutrup, T.S., Midwood, J.D., & Koed, A. 2013. Does the level of asepsis impact the success of surgically implanting tags in Atlantic salmon? Fisheries Research 147:344-348
Midwood, J.D., Rokitnicki-Wojcik, D., & Chow-Fraser, P. 2012. Development of an inventory of coastal wetlands for eastern Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. ISRN Ecology vol. 2012, Article ID 950173, 13 pages. doi:10.5402/2012/950173
Midwood, J.D., & Chow-Fraser, P. 2012. Changes in aquatic vegetation and fish communities following five years of sustained low water levels in coastal marshes of eastern Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. Global Change Biology 18:93-105.
Midwood, J.D. & Chow-Fraser, P. 2010. Mapping floating and emergent aquatic vegetation in coastal wetlands of eastern Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, Canada. Wetlands 30(6):1141-1152.
