Darren Ward (photo by Joseph Mehling '69)
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Salmon are well-traveled creatures. Hatched in freshwater streams, they
migrate to sea and swim home to their birthplace to spawn. One particular New
Hampshire salmon-or its picture at least-is embarking on an even longer
journey, on its way to subscribers around the globe as the cover image for the
January 2007 issue of the Journal of Animal
Ecology. Darren Ward, ecology and evolutionary biology graduate
student, took the photograph and is a co-author of the accompanying cover
story.
"Darren's publication of a high-profile cover article is an impressive
accomplishment at such an early stage in his career," says Dean of Graduate Studies Charles
Barlowe.
"The fish on the cover of JAE is a juvenile Atlantic salmon we
recaptured after it had spent its first summer living in a stream," Ward
explains. "Salmon are extinct from the Connecticut River basin, but there
is an ongoing, cooperative effort to reestablish the population." The
research team seeks to understand influences on the salmons' growth rate, a key
factor in their survival, migration and eventual reproduction.
It's well-documented, Ward notes, that salmon grow more slowly in high
density than in low populations. One explanation: high-density populations
deplete their prey-too many fish, not enough food. But that's not the only
possible answer. "My co-authors and I disagreed with that conclusion
because it is not consistent with other aspects of salmon natural
history." The team's paper, Ward reports, "shows that competition for
prey is not necessary to produce slow growth rates at high population
density."
"Writing the paper also got me thinking more broadly about the nature
of scientific evidence and how to test hypotheses when multiple competing
explanations can explain your results," Ward says. "I've had all the
support and resources I need to do the research I find interesting and
important."
The publication of Ward's research, Barlowe observes, reflects the quality
of graduate studies at Dartmouth. "Many of the strengths in our graduate
programs emerge from Dartmouth's traditions of academic excellence and close
faculty-student ties. The Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology graduate program exemplifies this model, and continues
to excel in the training of leading graduate scholars."
Carol Folt, dean of the Faculty of
Arts and Sciences and professor of biological sciences, is Ward's
advisor and a co-author on the study. Additional co-authors are: Keith H.
Nislow Gr'97, USDA Forest Service; John D. Armstrong, Scotland's Fisheries
Research Service; and Sigurd Einum, Norwegian Institute for Nature
Research.
By KELLY SEAMAN
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