Gayle Zydlewski

Gayle Zydlewski
Nationality	American
Occupation	Professor of Marine Sciences
Employer	University of Maine
Known for	Fisheries ecology, fish acoustics, river restoration research

Gayle Zydlewski is an American marine scientist and academic who serves as a faculty member in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine, Orono. Her research addresses the migratory behavior, movement ecology, and acoustic detection of fish species in riverine and estuarine systems, with particular attention to diadromous fish and the effects of dam presence and removal on aquatic ecosystems. Over the course of her career she has contributed to a substantial body of published work examining fish passage, river restoration, and the application of acoustic technologies to fisheries science.

Education

Zydlewski pursued graduate training in fisheries biology and marine science prior to joining the faculty at the University of Maine. Her academic background combined training in fish physiology and behavior with a focus on the ecological dynamics of migratory fish populations, which would later inform her long-running research program on river systems in the northeastern United States.

Career

Zydlewski holds a faculty position in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine, where she conducts research and teaches courses related to fisheries ecology, fish behavior, and marine and freshwater conservation science. She has been affiliated with the university for a substantial portion of her academic career, during which she has built a research program centered on the Penobscot River and other regional waterways.

Her work has extended beyond the state of Maine to collaborative projects examining lake sturgeon populations in Lake Champlain, reflecting a broader interest in the migratory behavior and spatial ecology of large-bodied, long-lived fish species across different watershed systems. She has also participated in interdisciplinary research initiatives that train graduate students to work across traditional disciplinary boundaries in the study of complex, turbulent marine and freshwater systems.

Throughout her career, Zydlewski has maintained active engagement with regional resource management agencies and stakeholder groups, applying her research findings to inform decisions regarding dam operations, fish passage infrastructure, and river restoration efforts in Maine and neighboring states.

Research

Zydlewski's research program is organized around several interconnected themes: the movement ecology of migratory and diadromous fish, the ecological consequences of dam presence and removal, the application of acoustic technologies to fisheries assessment, and the restoration of estuarine and riverine habitats.

A central focus of her work has been the Penobscot River, the largest river system in Maine, where large-scale dam removal projects have provided an opportunity to study the recovery of fish populations and estuarine habitats following the restoration of river connectivity. Her 2023 study "Seven dam challenges for migratory fish: insights from the Penobscot River," published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, examined the specific obstacles that dams present to migratory fish species and drew on empirical observations from the Penobscot restoration effort to identify broader lessons for river management. This paper has been cited 19 times, making it among her more widely referenced contributions to the fisheries literature. Related work published the same year, "Response of Estuarine Fish Biomass to Restoration in the Penobscot River, Maine," in Estuaries and Coasts, documented changes in fish biomass in estuarine habitats following restoration activities, contributing empirical evidence to ongoing assessments of the ecological effects of dam removal.

Zydlewski has also worked extensively on lake sturgeon, a long-lived and slow-maturing species of particular conservation concern in freshwater systems of the northeastern United States and Canada. Her studies on lake sturgeon migratory behavior have examined multi-run migration patterns of adult male sturgeon in short river systems and have combined fixed-location count data with movement tracking data to develop frameworks for estimating the abundance of spawning runs in riverine migratory species. Her 2022 study on lake sturgeon in Lake Champlain further examined the seasonal movements and spatial overlap between juvenile and adult sturgeon populations, providing information relevant to the management of this species across life stages.

Another significant strand of Zydlewski's research concerns the use of acoustic methods for fisheries and plankton surveys. Her 2024 paper "Ushering in a new era in fisheries and plankton acoustics," published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, addressed emerging developments in acoustic survey technology and their implications for fisheries science. Related work published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America examined methods for estimating the target strength of estuarine pelagic fish assemblages using data collected during fisheries surveys, contributing methodological tools for the acoustic assessment of fish populations in estuarine environments.

Zydlewski has additionally contributed to broader policy-oriented discussions concerning inland fisheries management. Her 2021 article "Stepping Up: A U.S. Perspective on the Ten Steps to Responsible Inland Fisheries," published in the journal Fisheries, presented a domestic perspective on international guidelines for the sustainable and responsible management of inland fisheries resources.

Across these lines of inquiry, Zydlewski's research has emphasized the integration of field-based movement and acoustic data with broader questions of habitat restoration, dam management, and species conservation, particularly within the river systems of Maine and the wider northeastern United States.

Recognition

Zydlewski's research output, comprising more than 80 published papers, has accumulated over 1,500 citations, with an h-index of 20 according to citation-tracking metrics. Her studies on the Penobscot River restoration and on lake sturgeon movement ecology are among her most cited contributions, reflecting sustained interest from the fisheries and river ecology research communities in her findings on dam removal effects and migratory fish behavior.

Publications

• Zydlewski, G. et al. (2024). "Ushering in a new era in fisheries and plankton acoustics." ICES Journal of Marine Science.
• Zydlewski, G. et al. (2023). "Seven dam challenges for migratory fish: insights from the Penobscot River." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
• Zydlewski, G. et al. (2023). "Knowledge Co-Production to Improve Information Uptake: A Case Study in Downeast Maine." Maine Policy Review.
• Zydlewski, G. et al. (2023). "Response of Estuarine Fish Biomass to Restoration in the Penobscot River, Maine." Estuaries and Coasts.
• Zydlewski, G. et al. (2022). "Seasonal Movements and Spatial Overlap of Juvenile and Adult Lake Sturgeon in Lake Champlain." Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.
• Zydlewski, G. et al. (2021). "Stepping Up: A U.S. Perspective on the Ten Steps to Responsible Inland Fisheries." Fisheries.
• Zydlewski, G. et al. (2021). "Multi-run migratory behavior of adult male lake sturgeon in a short river."
• Zydlewski, G. et al. (2021). "Interdisciplinary Research Collaborative Trains Students to See Through Turbulent Systems." Oceanography.
• Zydlewski, G. et al. (2021). "Estimating target strength of estuarine pelagic fish assemblages using fisheries survey data." Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
• Zydlewski, G. et al. (2021). "Combining Fixed-Location Count Data and Movement Data to Estimate Abundance of a Lake Sturgeon Spawning Run: A Framework for Riverine Migratory Species." Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.

External links

• University of Maine
• Semantic Scholar profile