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Research

My research interests are in fisheries management and ecology and have focused on mechanisms that regulate fish populations, food webs, and community structure and dynamics. I strive to direct my research toward resource management problems to aid state agencies in developing informed decisions. Through this process, I have used a variety of approaches including whole-lake manipulations, exclosure and enclosure experiments, large mesocosms, natural experiments, laboratory experiments, and theoretical modeling. Recently, my research has focused on four broad but interconnected areas. 1) Linkages among watersheds, aquatic ecosystems, and fish communities. Projects include evaluating how watershed and lake characteristics influence fish communities and population dynamics and habitat use of various juvenile and adult fishes. 2) Mechanisms regulating survival during early life stages and recruitment dynamics. Projects have focused on identifying survival bottlenecks, interdependency of early life stages, and mechanisms regulating recruitment. 3) Effects of invasive species on aquatic ecosystems. Projects have included evaluating the effects of common carp on water quality, primary producers, primary consumers, and native fishes in shallow ecosystems. 4) Effects of bottom up (i.e. resources) and top down (i.e. predation) processes on aquatic ecosystems. Projects include evaluating the influence of predation and resource pulses on aquatic food webs.

Broader Impact

I work with state and federal agencies to learn more about how fish populations are regulated by a suite of anthropocentric and environmental factors to improve management of aquatic resources.

Key Environmental Science Publications

Weber, M. J., and M. L. Brown. 2015. Biomass-dependent effects of juvenile common carp on aquatic ecosystems. Hydrobiologia 742: 71-80.

Weber, M. J., and M. L. Brown. 2013. Continuous, pulsed, and disrupted nutrient subsidy effects on ecosystem productivity, stability, and energy flow. Ecosphere 4:27.

Weber, M. J., and M. L. Brown. 2013. Density-dependence and environmental conditions regulate recruitment and first year-growth of common carp in shallow lakes. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 142:471-482.

Weber, M. J., and M. L. Brown. 2011. Relationships among invasive common carp, native fishes and physicochemical characteristics in upper Midwest (USA) lakes. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 20:270-278.