ERIC P. BERGERSEN

Assistant Unit Leader (Fisheries), Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

Professor, Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology
Expertise: Ecology of high mountain lakes, fish habitat management, endangered species, environmental contaminants, power plant impacts on fisheries, opossum shrimp (Mysis) -fishery interactions, fishery operations planning, whirling disease.

Education

  • BS, 1967, University of Arizona, Fishery Management
  • MS, 1969, University of Arizona, Fishery Biology
  • PhD, 1974, Utah State University, Aquatic Ecology
  • Post Doctorate, 1974, Colorado State University

    • Professional Experience:

  • 1974-82 - Assistant Leader, Colorado Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins
  • 1982-83 - Acting Leader, Colorado Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins
  • 1983-present - Assistant Leader, Colorado Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins

    • Research Grants:

  • Structural Diversity Indices in Lakes, $72K
  • Impacts of Water Management on Fish in the Wind River, Wind River Indian Reservation, $110K
  • Evaluation of Squawfish Introductions in the White River, $40K
  • Effects of Impoundment on Fish in the White River, Colorado, $35K
  • The Role of Size, Condition and Lipid Content in the Overwinter Survival of Age-0 Colorado Squawfish, $35K
  • Structural Diversity in Lakes and Reservoirs, $250K

    • Theses or Dissertations Supervised Since 1990:

    Theses - 15

    Dissertations - 3

    Courses Taught:

  • FW521, Fish Habitat Management (Spring Semesters)
  • FW 204, Introduction to Fishery Biology (Fall 1992)
  • FW 304, Fishery Spring Trip (3 times)

    • Honors and Awards:

  • Utah State Ecology Center Research Fellowship 1969-70
  • EPA Pre-doctoral Research Fellowship 1970-73
  • FWS Special Achievement Award 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992
  • Colorado/Wyoming Chapter American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence 1988
  • Director's Award for Outstanding Science to the Colorado Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit 1992
  • Outstanding Group Achievement Award from the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists to the Cooperative Unit Program 1992

    • Recent Presentations:

    1. Entrainment of Mysis relicta in a pumped-storage hydropower plant. January 1991. National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
    2. Movements of northern pike and largemouth bass to lowered water levels (Kevin Rogers and E. P. Bergersen). July 1992. American Fisheries Society Western Division Meeting.
    3. The use of popnets for sampling fish populations in small lakes. 1992. Alaska Fish and Game Sport Fish Division Staff Meeting, Fairbanks, AK.
    4. The use of antimycin in high gradient streams (Ken Tiffan and E. P. Bergersen). 1992. Colorado-Wyoming Chapter AFS Meeting, Grand Junction, CO.
    5. Using a GIS to assess northern pike and largemouth bass use of vegetation in a lake at Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Kevin Rogers and E. P. Bergersen). May 1993. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service GIS Workshop, Lafayette, LA.
    6. Hooking mortality in lake trout. 1994. Great Plains Fishery Workers Meeting, Deadwood, SD.
    7. Fish populations in the Wind River, Wyoming (Lee Bergstedt and E. P. Bergersen). June 1994. American Fisheries Society Western Division Meeting, Flagstaff, AZ.
    8. Real-time data acquisition for quantifying fish habitat diversity (Kevin Rogers and E. P. Bergersen). July 1994. Ohio State University and Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Columbus, OH.
    9. Electrofishing-induced injuries and the long-term effects of electrofishing on survival and condition in wild trout populations in Colorado (Kevin Thompson and E. P. Bergersen). August 1994. American Fisheries Society 124th Annual Meeting, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

    Membership in Professional Societies and Committees:

  • American Fisheries Society
  • Native Peoples' Fisheries Committee 1989-1992
  • International Mysis/Fisheries Symposium, Toronto, Canada, AFS Co-chairman 1988
  • Meritorious Service Award Committee 1992
  • Associate Editor for North American Journal of Fisheries Management 1988-90
  • Co-editor of AFS International/Mysis Fisheries Symposium, Toronto, Canada, 1988
  • Technical Reviewer for North American Journal of Fisheries Management
  • Technical Reviewer to Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
  • Technical Reviewer for Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
  • Associate Editor Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
  • Western Division American Fisheries Society
  • Poster Session Chairman, Annual Meeting 1976, 1980
  • Nominations Committee 1978-79
  • Continuing Education Committee, Western Division Meeting, Ft. Collins, CO 1991, 1993
  • Colorado-Wyoming Chapter American Fisheries Society
  • Program Chairman, Annual Meeting 1976
  • Outstanding Fishery Worker Selection Committee 1976, 1978
  • Environmental Impact Statement Review Committee Chairman 1979-80
  • Rollefson Aquatic Habitat Management Award Committee
  • Mysis/Fisheries Symposium I, Ft. Collins, CO, AFS Co-chairman 1988
  • Arrangements Committee, Colorado-Wyoming Chapter Meeting 1990
  • Continuing Education Committee 1991-92
  • Great Plains Fishery Workers Association
  • Biological Research Advisory Group (Colorado River Endangered Fishes Recovery Implementation Program) 1989-1990

    • Conferences and Workshops Organized and Hosted:

  • Whirling Disease Workshop, Denver, CO, February 6-8, 1996

    • Selected Publications:

    1. Thompson, J. M., E. P. Bergersen, C. A. Carlson and L. R. Kaeding. 1991. Role of size, condition, and lipid content in overwinter survival of age-0 Colorado squawfish. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 120(3):346-353.
    2. Chart, T. E. and E. P. Bergersen. 1992. Impact of mainstream impoundment on the distribution and movements of the resident flannelmouth suckers Catostomus latipinnis (Catostomidae), in the White River, Colorado. Southwestern Naturalist 37(1):9-15.
    3. Bergersen, E. P. 1993. Sediments, Chapter 7. Pages 69-75 in Aquatic Ecology Studies of Twin Lakes, Colorado 1971-1986. Effects of a Pumped-Storage Hydroelectric Project on a Pair of Montane Lakes. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Water Resources Technical Publication. Engineering and Science Monograph No. 43. Denver, Colorado.
    4. Bergersen, E. P., K. B. Rogers and L. V. Conger. 1994. A livestock hormone pellet injector for implanting PIT tags. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 14(1):224-225.
    5. Trammell, M. A., E. P. Bergersen and P. J. Martinez. 1993. Evaluation of an introduction of Colorado squawfish in a main stem reservoir on the White River, Colorado. Environmental Biology of Fishes 40(3):227-239.
    6. Austen, D. J., D. L. Scarnecchia and E. P. Bergersen. 1994. Usefulness of structural and condition indices in management of high mountain stream salmonid populations. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 14(4):650-661.
    7. Rogers, K. B. and E. P. Bergersen. 1995. Effects of a fall drawdown on movement of adult northern pike and largemouth bass. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 15(3):596-600.
    8. Tiffan, K. F. and E. P. Bergersen. 1996. The performance of antimycin in high gradient streams. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 16:465-468.
    9. Rogers, K. B., L. Bergstedt and E. P. Bergersen. 1996. Standard weight equation for mountain whitefish. North American Journal of Fishery Management 16:207-209.
    10. Lee, W. and E. P. Bergersen. 1996. Influence of thermal and oxygen stratification on lake trout hooking mortality. North American Journal of Fishery Management 16:175-181.
    11. Bergersen, E. P. and B. A. Knopf, editors. Whirling Disease Workshop - Where do we go from here? Proceedings of the workshop. 1996 February 6-8, Denver, CO. 322 p. Available from Colorado Cooperative Fish & Wildlife research Unit, 201 Wagar, Building, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.