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photo of Donald J. StewartDonald J. Stewart
Professor

103 Illick Hall
SUNY-ESF
1 Forestry Drive
Syracuse, NY 13210

Telephone: (315) 470-6924
Fax: (315) 470-6934
Email: djstewart@esf.edu

Principal Courses

EFB 486 Ichthyology (3 credit hours).  Two hours of lecture, three hours of laboratory.  An introduction to the anatomy, physiology, ecology, behavior, and taxonomy of fishes.

EFB 523 and FOR 523 Tropical Ecology (3 credit hours).  Field-oriented labs, lectures and independent research, including a 10-day study-trip to Dominica, the ‘Nature Island of the Caribbean’ during spring break.  Focuses on structure and function of tropical ecosystems, biodiversity and natural resource management in the tropics.  [Counts as 3 credits towards the EFB field experience requirement] 

Research Interests

  • Ecology, Conservation and Management of Freshwater Fishes and Their Ecosystems
  • Tropical Aquatic Systems:  Conservation and management of giant fishes of the genus Arapaima in South America; ecology of international migratory food fishes; life-history strategies of giant catfishes; systematics and evolution of Neotropical freshwater fishes.
  • Temperate Aquatic Systems:  Fish ecology; fisheries management; ecological energetics; modeling predation and production processes; population dynamics; Great Lakes ecosystems.

Current Projects

Arapaima - Integrative Studies

Current Graduate Advisees

Kean CliffordKean Clifford
kmcliffo@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: MS
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Stewart
  • Area of Study: Ecology

Daniel GurdakDaniel Gurdak
djgurdak@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: PHD
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Stewart
  • Area of Study: Ecology
  • Previous Graduate Study: University of Oxford (Environmental Sci )

Personal Statement
I was born and raised in New York City to parents who emigrated from Poland. At an early age, I developed an interest in the environment through camping and hiking as an outdoor guide and rock climbing instructor. I enjoy sports (such as basketball and rock-climbing) and competed for eight years in track and field. At the Macaulay Honors College at Lehman College, my interest in the natural sciences developed into a passion for research and travel. I spent a month in Ecuador and the Galapagos studying ecology, evolution and conservation. I later spent a semester at the SFS Centre for Tropical Rainforest Studies in Queensland, Australia, where I learned about the tropics and conducted independent research. I also worked on projects closer to home, most notably a dietary niche breadth study of tessellated darters (Etheostoma olmstedi) collected at stations along the Bronx River. After my Bachelor’s, I studied for an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management at Oxford. My dissertation work explored components of the carbon cycle in Andean tropical forests. I also spent a summer in Assam, India, comparing the diversity and species assemblages of butterflies in a protected area to different habitat types in the surrounding landscape matrix.

Graduate Research Topic
My research will focus on the ecology, conservation, and management of Amazonian arapaima, among the largest freshwater species in the world.

Theodore HermannTheodore Hermann
thermann@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: PHD
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Stewart
  • Area of Study: Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management
  • Undergraduate Institute: Cornell University (Earth Systems)

Personal Statement
Before coming to ESF, I worked in several laboratories at Cornell. The focus of the work was broad in scope, including ichthyology, limnology, stable isotope analysis and microbiology. My graduate work focuses on the catfish of the family Pimelodidae, particularly the giants of the genus Brachyplatystoma, which undertake spawning migrations of thousands of kilometers in the Amazon River. Using microelemental analysis of otoliths, I aim to determine phylogenetic patterns of migration within the family.

Graduate Research Topic
Determining patterns of migration within the Amazonian catfish family, Pimelodidae, using otolith microelemental data.

Kapil MandrekarKapil Mandrekar
kmandrek@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: MS
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Stewart
  • Area of Study: Ecology
  • Undergraduate Institute: Albion College (Biology)
  • Previous Graduate Study: Arkansas State University of St Univ (Biology )

Joie MatillanoJoie Matillano
jdmatill@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: PHD
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Stewart
  • Area of Study: Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management
  • Undergraduate Institute: Western Phillippines Univ (Aquatic Biology)

Personal Statement
I am a Ph. D. student majoring in Fish and Wildlife Biology and Management at SUNY ESF in Syracuse, NY. I also worked with Dr. Donald Stewart’s lab for my MS Degree but before I came to ESF, I was a faculty member of the Aquatic Biology Program of Western Philippines University in Puerto Princesa, Philippines. My MS research focused on taxonomy and conservation of the minnow genus Puntius in northern Palawan, Philippines. Currently, my graduate research in ESF deals with fish community patterns in riverine and coastal ecosystems of Honda Bay Basin. My research aims to compare the species composition of fishes from rivers, estuaries, and coral reef areas in Honda Bay area in Palawan, Philippines. The main goal is to assess the connectivity of these ecosystems in terms of supporting the different life history stages of several commercially important species in Honda Bay. I hope that through the results of my study, sound management programs will be formulated and implemented to effectively delineate marine protected areas that will provide umbrella protection to the different ecosystems that support the Honda Bay area fish communities.

Graduate Research Topic
Riverine and Coastal Fish Community Patterns in Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa City, Philippines

Home Page

Selected Publications

  • Lujan, N.K., M. Hidalgo, & D.J. Stewart. 2010. Revision of Panaque (Panaque), with descriptions of three new species from the Amazon Basin (Siluriformes, Loricariidae). Copeia 2010(4): 676-704 (In Press).
  • Kaatz, I.M., D.J. Stewart, A.N. Rice, & P.S. Lobel. 2010. Differences in pectoral fin spine morphology between vocal and silent clades of catfishes (Order Siluriformes): Ecomorphological implications. Curr. Zool. 56(1): 73-89.
  • Castello, L., & D.J. Stewart. 2010. Assessing CITES non-detriment findings procedures for Arapaima in Brazil. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 26: 49-56.
  • Arantes, C.C., L. Castello, D.J. Stewart, M. Cetra, & H.L. Queiroz. 2010. Population density, growth and reproduction of arapaima in an Amazonian river-floodplain. Ecol. Freshw. Fish 19: 455-465.
  • Murry, B.A., R. O’Gorman, M.J. Connerton, D.J. Stewart, & N.H. Ringler. 2010. Lake-wide estimates of alewife biomass and Chinook salmon abundance and consumption in Lake Ontario, 1989–2005: implications for prey fish sustainability. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 139: 223-240.
  • Lantry, B.F., L.G. Rudstam, J.L. Forney, A.J. VanDeValk, E.L. Mills, D.J. Stewart, & J.V. Adams. 2008. Comparisons between consumption estimates from bioenergetics simulations and field measurements for walleyes from Oneida Lake, New York. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 137(5): 1406-1421.
  • He, J.X., L.G. Rudstam, J.L. Forney, A.J. VanDeValk, & D.J. Stewart. 2005. Long-term patterns in growth of Oneida Lake walleye: a multivariate and stage-explicit approach for applying the von Bertalanffy function. J. Fish. Biol. 66: 1-12.
  • Wurster, C.M., W.P. Patterson, D.J. Stewart, J.N. Bowlby, & T.J. Stewart. 2005. Thermal histories, stress, and metabolic rates of chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in Lake Ontario: evidence from intra-otolith stable isotope analyses. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 62: 700-713.
  • He, J., & D.J. Stewart.2002. A stage-explicit expression of the von Bertalanffy growth model for understanding age at first reproduction of Great Lakes fishes. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 59: 250-261.
  • Stewart, D.J., M. Ibarra & R. Barriga-Salizar. 2002. Comparison of deep-river and adjacent sandy-beach fish assemblages in the Napo River basin, Eastern Ecuador. Copeia 2002(2): 333-343.
  • He, J., & D.J. Stewart. 2001. Age and size at first reproduction of fishes: predictive models based only on growth trajectories. Ecology 82(3): 784-791.
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