Robert Fournier

Huge thanks to @fishteph.bsky.social, @albertruhi.bsky.social, and former technician Tyler Marino. This project was truly a team effort!

Assessing risk across species and at fine spatial and temporal scales can help pinpoint management priorities to protect estuarine food webs and guide limited conservation resources

We also found that fishes are accumulating risk faster than their zooplankton prey during key times of year. A pattern that hints at the potential for trophic mismatches that could affect the whole food web. We also found strong spatial patterns, with the strongest divergence in more saline regions.

By modeling how long-term population trends and variability impact decline probability, we examined how risk fluctuates throughout the year for age-0 fishes. We found that risk can vary from month to month, highlighting that risk might not be consistent even within the same life stage.

Phenology‐informed decline risk of estuarine fishes and their prey suggests potential for future trophic mismatches Conservation scientists have long used population viability analysis (PVA) on species count data to quantify critical decline risk, thereby informing conservation actions. These assessments typically...

So excited to share our new paper out today in Ecological Applications @esajournals.bsky.social!

We used time-series modeling explore ecological risk for fishes and their prey in the San Francisco Estuary during key phenological windows that shape food web dynamics.

dx.doi.org/10.1002/eap....

Review of the Long-Term Operations of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project Read online, download a free PDF, or order a copy in print.

Billions of gallons of water flow daily through California’s water projects. In this National Academies Report we examined key actions to protect endangered fish & Bay-Delta ecosystems while considering human water needs nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/2913...
#WaterResources #CentralValleyProject

At my first Western Society of Naturalists meeting presenting some of our work looking at sea otter restoration! Looking forward to introducing myself to a new scientific society and engaging with a new audience. Please reach out if you want to connect! #WSN2025

Groundwater and Remotely Sensed Phenology Reveal Vulnerability of Riparian Trees to Drought We asked how vulnerable riparian trees are to droughts, examining their water use and growing season timing and duration via groundwater data and satellite imagery. Drought shortened the growing seas...

How vulnerable are riparian trees to drought? Using groundwater and satellite data from a California waterhsed, our new paper found that trees by drying rivers lost up to 5 weeks of growing season, suggesting they’re nearing critical groundwater limits.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Does tidal marsh restoration lead to the recovery of trophic pathways that support estuarine fishes? Evaluation of tidal marsh restoration success is typically based on the recovery of habitat size and target species. However, food-web structure may provide valuable insight into ecosystem functionin...

Does tidal marsh #restoration "work", if the goal is bringing back key species AND the trophic interactions that support them? A thousand stable isotope samples later, we have answers! 💯 work by PhD student Megan Pagliaro:
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #SanFrancisco #BayDelta

Looking for a postdoc, and interested in river-coastal linkages, #remote sensing, and time series analysis? Come work with us @natureatcal.bsky.social on an exciting project led by @rachelspatial.bsky.social! CC @sfs-src.bsky.social @aslo.org @cerfscience.bsky.social ‪‪@caseagrant.bsky.social‬

Meet the Beautiful Dragonfly That Thrives in Your Pollution

So great to see our work on blue dasher dragonflies highlighted in the New York Times. Excellent piece by @cjgiaimo.bsky.social!

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/s...

I'm giving a talk about our work modeling the potential effects of sea otter restoration to the San Francisco Estuary on Thursday in the Restoration Ecology session. Come check it out!

A name badge for Robert Fournier

The visit Baltimore sign in downtown Baltimore

Anyone at #esa2025 this year? Get in touch!

Read the full story here -> aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... Thanks to the the International Associated Laboratory "MacLife" for funding! CC @matbuoro.bsky.social @fishteph.bsky.social @natureatcal.bsky.social

Assistant/Associate/Full Professor - Climate Equity and Environmental Justice - Rausser College of Natural Resources University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

UC-Berkeley has an open-rank faculty position in our incredible Climate Equity and Environmental Justice (CEEJ) research cluster. It is an extraordinary interdisciplinary group working across multiple colleges and departments at the university! More information here: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF04842

👥 10 students.
🌎 1 mission: a healthier planet.

Meet the 2025 Benioff Scholars—driving real-world solutions to some of the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Conference fosters connection in growing seaweed industry The inaugural workshop of the International Bioeconomy and Macroalgae Center convened an international, interdisciplinary group to focus on advancing seaweed research, cultivation, and application.

An international, interdisciplinary group focused on advancing seaweed research, cultivation, and application gathered at UC Berkeley in early May for the inaugural workshop of the International Bioeconomy and Macroalgae Center.

This threat represents an immeasurable loss to community-driven research and to the training pipeline for the next generation of collaborative conservation leaders

Seasonal timing of ecosystem linkage mediates life‐history variation in a salmonid fish population Life-history variation can contribute to the long-term persistence of populations; however, it remains unclear which environmental factors drive life-history variation within a population. Seasonally...

New collaborative paper out in Ecology - subsidy timing matters in producing intraspecific life-history diversity; Led by Rui Ueda at Kyoto University esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Virtual Rally to Save the Cornerstone of Conservation Science · National Wildlife Federation We need YOU as we rally in support of _critical_ federal government services at risk of being lost forever. The U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area is responsible for many of the programs t...

Professors at USGS coop units were absolutely critical parts of my education at 3 different universities. They're probably affiliated with more useful conservation research than any other agency on earth. Join the rally to defend science next week!

🌎🐟🦉🐍🦊🌿🧪 #hydrology #Invert mobilize.us/s/JyAqUI

Racist and sexist roots in the cancellation of NSF grants under Trump:

Grants with female PIs canceled 2x more than men
Grants with Black PIs canceled 4x over White PIs
Grants with Hispanic PIs canceled 2x over White PIs
Grants with PIs with disabilities canceled 2x more than without

Genome skimming supports two new crayfish species from the genus Pacifastacus Bott, 1950 (Decapoda: Astacidae) | Zootaxa

The result of nearly two decades of work, my coauthors and I have just described two new crayfish species from western North America: introducing the Misfortunate Crayfish and Okanagan Crayfish (doi.org/10.11646/zoo...). More to follow soon, but it should be open access - message if you need a PDF.

What DEI threatens isn’t merit. It’s monopoly. Political science professor Hakeem Jefferson argues for DEI's importance to de-monopolizing universities.

A colleague at Stanford’s business school used The Stanford Daily to argue—poorly—against DEI. The piece was riddled with historical errors and left one searching for fact, so I broke my public writing hiatus to respond.

I hope you’ll read and share the piece.

stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...

Too much and not enough data: Challenges and solutions for generating information in freshwater research and monitoring Evaluating progress toward achieving freshwater conservation and sustainability goals requires transforming diverse types of data into useful information for scientists, managers, and other interest ...

Happy about this one, skillfully led by Adrianne Smits & w/ many great coauthors!-> "Despite substantial increases in the volume of #freshwater data collected worldwide, many regions and ecosystems still lack sufficient data collection and access."
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Locations of aquatic studies included in the dataset (n = 135 studies) classified within eight biogeographic realms. The sizes of the circles are proportional to the number of studies per country in each biogeographic realm.

📢 GLOSSAQUA is out in Ecology @esajournals.bsky.social. Big collaboration w/40+ coauthors led by myself, @chaevangelista.bsky.social & @ignasiarranz.bsky.social. It compiles global size spectra parameters from aquatic ecosystems globally👉: doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... #datapaper #aquaticecology 🌍🧪🧵(1/4)

Postdoc Employee – Quantitative ecology – ESPM: Organisms & The Environment University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

Looking for a quantitative ecology #postdoc? Check out this opening on time-series modeling of estuarine food webs - based in my group @natureatcal.bsky.social, in collaboration w/ State agency scientists. Apply ASAP - review of applications starts Apr 4. More info: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF04818

University of California sets hiring freeze in anticipation of Trump cuts The University of California has imposed a system-wide hiring freeze and made additional cuts, its president said on Wednesday, as part of efforts to try to mitigate the impact of sharp cuts in federal funding.

University of California announced a systemwide hiring freeze. This affects not 1 but 10 campuses (including UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, UC San Diego among others) plus 3 national labs with impact on medical and scientific research and local economies.

www.reuters.com/world/us/uni...

As a USGS Coop Alum (PhD at the Arkansas Unit) this is incredibly alarming. These units are key engines of applied research and training of the next generation of scientists, biologists and land managers.

My peers are now leaders across state and federal agencies, non profits and universities.

Variation in Salmon Migration Phenology Bolsters Population Stability but Is Threatened by Drought We show that intrapopulation variation in juvenile movement and rearing strategies enhances population stability in endangered coho salmon near their southern range limit. However, variation in reari...

Delighted to share our new paper in Ecology Letters:
Variation in Salmon Migration Phenology Bolsters Population Dynamics but is Threatened by Drought.

With @fishteph.bsky.social, Ted Grantham, and Mariska Obedzinski.

#rivers #fishes #salmon
🧪🐟
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doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Diversity in Coho Salmon Could Be Key to Species Survival The Russian River estuary just downstream of the confluence with Willow Creek. New research published today in Ecology Letters from the Stone Center found that coho salmon, one of five Pacific salmon...

A 12-year-long study led by @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social and @caseagrant.bsky.social researchers finds that the alternative life histories of coho salmon have made their populations more stable. Read more at the Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship site. nature.berkeley.edu/stewardship/...