Dr. David Beauchamp

Asst. Unit Leader - Fisheries

Dr. Beauchamp conducts and coordinates research on fisheries resources with staff in WCFWRU, other faculty at the University of Washington, and cooperating state and federal agencies (Washington Departments of Ecology, Fish and Wildlife, and Natural Resources, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service), and other organizations.

His research program addresses basic and applied questions which link individual behavior to community-level processes that influence the structure and function of aquatic food webs in lakes, estuaries and marine systems. His work involves quantifying linkages in food webs to locate critical processes that structure aquatic communities. Stage-specific spatial and temporal components of trophic interactions are examined through a combination of directed sampling, lab and field experiments, and simulation modeling. Most recently, Dave has been working to enhance the capability to predict the response of aquatic populations and communities to natural- and human-induced perturbations (environmental change, species introductions, enhancement or harvest regimes, etc.) through development, testing, and application of a visual foraging model for pelagic piscivores. This program includes a laboratory component for measuring prey detection by predators as a function of light, prey size, and transparency; a field component for estimating detection volumes in waters of different optical characteristics at different depths and times of day; and a modeling component for predicting prey selection and consumption under a variety of environmental conditions and prey availabilities.