Donald 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 Graduate Students

• Watson, L. Cynthia; Ph.D.; Ecology and conservation of the endangered, giant fish Arapaima in Guyana.
• Connerton, Michael; Ph.D. Spatial and temporal modeling of stream primary production (co-advisor w/ N. Ringler).
• Smith, Ronald E.; MPS; Focus on aquatic ecology.

Selected Publications

• Connerton, M. J., B.A. Murry, N.H. Ringler, & D.J. Stewart.  (In Review).  Changes in the proportion of wild Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in  Lake Ontario, 1992 – 2005.  Submitted to: J. Great Lakes Res.
• Lantry, B.F., L.G. Rudstam, J.L. Forney, A.J. VanDeValk, E.L. Mills, D.J. Stewart, & J.V. Adams. (In press, 2008).  Comparisons between consumption estimates from bioenergetics simulations and field measurements for walleye from Oneida Lake, NY.  Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc.
• Coghlan, S., M. Connerton, N. Ringler, D. Stewart, & J. Mead.  2007.  Survival and growth responses of juvenile salmonines stocked in eastern Lake Ontario tributaries.  Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 136: 56-71.
• Silva-Naranjo, E.A., & D.J. Stewart.  2006.  Age structure, growth and survival rates of the commercial fish Prochilodus nigricans (bocachico) in North-eastern Ecuador.  Envir. Biol. Fish. 77: 63-77.
• Murphy, M. H; Connerton, M. J; & Stewart, D. J.  2006.  Evaluation of winter severity on growth of young-of-the-year Atlantic salmon.  Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 135(2): 420-430.
• 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.
• Galacatos, K., R. Barriga-Salazar, & D.J. Stewart.  2004.  Seasonal and habitat influences on fish communities within the lower Yasuni River basin of the Ecuadorian Amazon.  Envir. Biol. Fish. 71: 33-51.
• 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.
• Idrisi, N., E.L. Mills, L.G. Rudstam, & D.J. Stewart.  2001.  Impact of zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) on the pelagic lower trophic levels of Oneida Lake, New York.  Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.. 58: 1430-1441.
• 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.
• Lantry, B.F., & D.J. Stewart.  2000.  Population dynamics of rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) in Lakes Ontario and Erie: A modeling analysis of cannibalism effects.  Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 57: 1594-1606.