Jason Vokoun, a UNL alumnus and associate professor and director at the University of Connecticut, will present “Attempting a Conservation ‘0 to 60’: Sampling and Detection, Life History and Habitat Use, and Correlates of Widespread Extirpation in Bridle Shiner” at 3:30 p.m., Nov. 4 in the Hardin Hall Auditorium.

The seminar is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

Vokoun’s research program sets out to fill information gaps and answer questions relevant to the conservation of fish populations and their habitats. Taxonomically, the research focus is broad and he works both with ‘non-game’ native fishes (often of conservation concern) and ‘sportfish’ species that are pursued by anglers.

The common thread is an applied ecological approach that investigates how life histories, population dynamics and habitat requirements interact within coupled human-natural ecosystems to provide relevant information to natural resource managers. He and his graduate students use a variety of research techniques, including resource selection and population modeling, population and conservation genetics, and at times otolith microchemistry and respirometry.

Adoption and use of new and improved sampling and analytical techniques has become a secondary theme in much of the research. He currently works with brook trout focusing on landscape-level population connectivity in warming watersheds, largemouth bass as indicators of recreational fishing-induced evolution, and bridle shiner conservation and (hopefully soon!) restoration.

Vokoun graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in forestry, fisheries and wildlife and holds a graduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Missouri in fisheries and wildlife science. He arrived at the University of Connecticut in 2004 and offers courses in fisheries conservation, stream ecology and conservation history and ethics.