Phaedra Budy

S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources

Watershed Sciences

I am a Professor in the Department of Watershed Sciences and Unit Leader of the Utah Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (U.S. Geological Survey) at Utah State University (USU) in Logan, Utah. I completed a B.S. in Limnology at the University of California – Davis, a PhD in aquatic ecology at Utah State University, and a post-doctoral fellowship in stream ecology at the NSF Luquillo Long Term Ecological Research site in Puerto Rico.

In my Fish Ecology Lab at USU, along with my undergraduate researchers, graduate students, and staff, I conduct research that fits into an overall framework of evaluating the factors that structure and limit fish populations in both lentic and lotic systems. We work broadly in conservation biology, invasion ecology, and food web dynamics of aquatic systems with an emphasis on fishes. My undergraduate researchers work on projects from all over the west, and are currently working on projects based out arctic Alaska and the San Juan River, Utah. We are particularly interested in desert fish conservation and ecology, as these fishes are highly imperiled and their ecosystems are degraded in multiple complex and interacting ways. More information describing my Fish Ecology Lab is available at www.usu.edu/fel.