What's happening to all the fish?

Research in the Ruzzante lab focuses on questions involving population genetics, ecology and evolution.

Through genetic and ecological studies, researchers examine how individual variation leads to evolutionary change. Using molecular techniques combined with an understanding of the biology of the species of interest, the issues that affect demography are examined; this is important for the conservation, management, and recovery of exploited and unexploited marine, anadromous, and freshwater fish populations.

There are three main research areas Dr. Ruzzante focuses on:

Conservation genetics in exploited marine and anadromous fish: This research focuses on the broad issues of how exploitation (harvesting, stocking, etc) affects the temporal and spatial patterns of genetic population structure in marine and anadromous fish, including migratory species. Research has been focused on the North West Atlantic, North East Atlantic, and North and Baltic Seas.

Fish evolutionary dynamics: The broad objective of this work is to improve our understanding of the ecological forces that are responsible for the formation of species and the evolution and maintenance of differences between them. Identifying the mechanisms responsible for the evolution of specialization, and the processes that lead to adaptive radiation, is fundamental to an understanding of the origins of diversity. Divergent natural selection in heterogeneous environments is probably the principal driving force causing phenotypic differentiation in characters related to resource acquisition. Such selection is often believed to lead to trophic polymorphism, the presence of two or more co-existing conspecific types that are morphologically distinct in trophic related characters.

Marine mammal conservation genetics: Past exploitation decimated bottlenose whales in the North Atlantic yet there is currently little knowledge on population abundance, seasonal dispersal patterns, social structure or whether populations are recovering or in decline. A small (estimated 130 individuals) northern bottlenose whale population is found year-round near "The Gully", a submarine canyon off the coast of Nova Scotia, which has recently been declared a Marine Protected Area. The species is of conservation concern and has recently (2002) been listed as "Endangered" by COSEWIC.

Daniel E. Ruzzante

Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Marine Conservation Genetics

Education

• 1979, Lic. en Ciencias Biologicas, Univ. Nacional Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• 1986, M.Sc. Biology (Quantitative Genetics) Department of Biology, Dalhousie University
• 1991, Ph.D. Biology (Ecological Genetics) Department of Biology, Dalhousie University

Mentorship
Presently working with postdoctoral fellows Dr. Daniel Gómez-Uchida and Dr. Juan Pablo Barriga, graduate students Tyler Zemlak, Friso Palstra, Megan McCuskey, Mark Coulson, Daniel Hasselman, Krista Patriquin, John Zinck, and many undergraduate students.

Publications
More than 50 articles in refereed journals and a book chapter for book on Cod and Climate Change.

Professional associations

• American Society of Naturalists
  Society for the Study of Evolution
  Asociación Argentina de Ecología
  Sociedad Argentina de Genética

Website: Dr. Ruzzante's website

E-mail: Dr. Daniel Ruzzante