Angela Strecker

Director, Institute for Watershed Studies; Associate Professor · she/her/hers

About

I am the Director of the Institute for Watershed Studies and faculty in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Western Washington.  Prior to arriving at WWU, I was faculty in the Department of Environmental Science and Management at Portland State University and Director of the Center for Lakes and Reservoirs.  I completed my Bachelor of Science degree with Honours in Biology at the University of Regina and a Ph.D. at Queen's University in Biology, and was awarded two National Science and Engineering Research Council scholarships during my graduate degree.  I completed two Post-Doctoral Fellowships, one at the University of Toronto in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and a second at the University of Washington in the School of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.  I have published 30+ peer-reviewed research articles, two book chapters, numerous reports, and >60 conference presentations.  I have received grants from the National Science Foundation, Bonneville Power Administration, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, US Army Corps of Engineers, Oregon Sea Grant, the National Landscape Conservation Cooperative, and the North Coast and Cascades Science and Learning Network.  I am also an Associate Editor at the journal Aquatic Sciences.

Education

Ph.D. Queen's University, Biology, 2007; B.Sc. Honours University of Regina, Biology, 2001

Research Interests

My research interests fall into several interconnected categories that revolve around the basic question of what influences biodiversity and ecosystem function at different spatial scales.  To do this, my lab studies anthropogenic stressors in freshwater ecosystems, such as invasive species, climate change, habitat connectivity, and contaminants.  Our unit of study ranges from genes to populations to communities to entire food webs.  Ultimately, this work leads to the question of how ecosystem functions and services may be affected by human activities.  In general, we use the combined approach of field surveys, small-scale and large-scale experiments, and statistical modeling to test our hypotheses.  We also collaborate with social scientists to better understand complex socio-ecological systems.

Publications

Since 2018 (*student authors)

Chiapella, A.M.*, Eagles‐Smith, C.A. and Strecker, A.L.  2020.  From forests to fish: Mercury in mountain lake food webs influenced by factors at multiple scales. Limnology and Oceanography, in press. 

Chiapella, A.M.*, M. Kainz, A.L. Strecker. 2020. Fatty acid stable isotopes add clarity, but also complexity, to tracing energy pathways in aquatic food webs. Ecosphere, in press. 

Loewen, C., A.L. Strecker, B. Gilbert, D. Jackson. 2020. Climate warming moderates the impacts of introduced sportfish on prey biodiversity. Global Change Biology 26:4937-4951. 

Kuehne, L., A.L. Strecker, and J.D. Olden.  2020. Knowledge exchange and social capital for freshwater ecosystem assessments. BioScience 70: 174–183. 

Holgerson, M., A. Duarte, M. Hayes, M. Adams, J. Tyson, K. Douville, and A.L. Strecker. Floodplains provide important amphibian habitat despite facing multiple ecological threats.  Ecosphere 10: e02853

Moser, K., J. Baron, J. Brahney, I. Oleksy, J. Saros, E. Hundey, S. Sadro, J. Kopacek, M. Kainz, A. Strecker, et al. Mountain lakes: Eyes on global environmental change. Global and Planetary Change 178: 77-95.

Jordan, M.P.*, A.R. Stewart, C.A. Eagles-Smith, A.L. Strecker. 2019. Nutrients mediate the effects of temperature on methylmercury concentrations in freshwater zooplankton.  Science of the Total Environment. 667: 601-6.

Lockwood, J.L., D.J. Welbourne, C. Romagosa, P. Cassey, N.E. Mandrak, A.L. Strecker, B. Leung, O.C. Stringham, B. Udell, D.J. Episcopio-Sturgeon, M.F. Tlusty, J. Sinclair, M. Springborn, E.F. Pienaar, and A. Rhyne.  2019. When pets become pests: The role of the exotic pet trade in producing invasive vertebrate animals.  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 17:323-330.

Loewen, C.J.G., A.L. Strecker, G.L. Larson, A. Vogel, J.M. Fischer, R.D. Vinebrooke. 2018. Macroecological drivers of zooplankton communities across the mountains of western North America.  Ecography 42: 791-803.

Chiapella, A.*, M. Nielsen-Pincus, and A.L. Strecker. 2018. Public perceptions of mountain lake fisheries management in national parks.  Environmental Management 226:169-179.

Cimino, S.A.* and A.L. Strecker. 2018. Boater knowledge and behavior regarding aquatic invasive species at a boat wash station.  Northwest Science 92:224-233.

Record, S.**, A.L. Strecker**, M.-N. Tuanmu, L. Beaudrot, P.L. Zarnetske, Y. Belmaker, E. Gerstner.  2018.  Does scale matter? Incorporating biological realism when predicting changes in species distributions.  PLoS One 13: e0194650.      ** both authors contributed equally

Brittain, J.T.* and A.L. Strecker. 2018. The interactive effect of multiple stressors on crustacean zooplankton communities in montane lakes.  Water Resources Research 54: 939-954. 

Read, Q.D., J.M. Grady, P.L. Zarnetske, S. Record, B. Baiser, J. Belmaker, M-N. Tuanmu, A. Strecker, L. Beaudrot, K. Thibault. 2018. Among-species overlap in rodent body size distributions predicts species richness along a temperature gradient.  Ecography 41: 1718-1727.

Teaching Schedule

Fall ESCI 501: MWF 9:00-9:50