Meet Savannah!

Savannah holding one of our finest data collectors.

If you're paying attention, you'll notice that most of my posts talk about what WE did during the previous week.  Who is this we I refer to? No, I'm not talking about my research collaborators (their time will come soon), but my summer technician, Savannah.  Savannah has shared just about every field hour with me and deserves a little spotlight for all her hard work.  So, take it away Savannah..

My name is Savannah Rhoads and this summer I am working as Shannon's technician in Loyalsock, PA. I assisted with the initial electrofishing and GPS tagging, and I will continue to help with tracking the movement of tagged Brook Trout until August. I am currently a junior at Susquehanna University, majoring in Ecology and minoring in Psychology. I would prefer to find a career focusing on animal behavior in captivity versus in nature, or possibly with a conservation agency. If I am unable to find a job in my field, I plan on pursuing my education at a graduate level, possibly focusing more on Marine Studies. So far this summer I enjoyed helping with the minor surgeries performed on Brook Trout to insert the telemetry trackers. I learned how to take a blood, gill, and fin sample as well as how to make the small incision for the tracker, and how to properly suture the fish back up, which I found to be much harder than it looks! I'm looking forward to seeing exactly how far the fish travel this summer, and to determine the effects of stressful situations (low flows, warm temperatures, etc.). Also I’m excited to see how summer and fall movement differs. Overall I'm really enjoying this summer, and I'm glad to be a part of this project!

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