Curriculum vitae

Martin T. O'Connell, Ph.D.

Graduate Coordinator
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Director - Nekton Research Laboratory
Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences
University of New Orleans

2000 Lakeshore Drive
University of New Orleans
New Orleans, LA 70122
Office: GP 1008
Phone: (504) 280-4032
Fax: (504) 280-7396
E-mail: moconnel@uno.edu

Education
B.Sc. (1988) Siena College, Loudonville, NY
M.Sc. (1991) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Ph.D. (2000) University of Southern Mississippi

Research Interests
Dr. O'Connell’s research interests involve studying, managing, and conserving aquatic animals in freshwater, estuarine, and marine habitats.  In particular the researchers and graduate students in his lab examine long-term changes in fish assemblages, responses of aquatic communities to natural and anthropogenic disturbances, and ecological needs of organisms threatened by changing global conditions.  While the focus of most of his research efforts is southeastern Louisiana, he also works with ecological data and organisms from throughout the nation and the world

Selected Publications
O’Connell, M.T. with A.M. Uzee-O’Connell and Valerie A. Barko.  (in press)  Occurrence and predicted dispersal of bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) in the Mississippi River System: Development of a Heuristic Tool in D. Chapman and M. Hoff (editors).  Asian Carp Symposium Proceedings, American Fisheries Society Symposium.

O’Connell, M.T. with T.D. Shepherd, A.M. Uzee-O’Connell, and Ransom A. Myers.  2007.  Long–term declines in two apex predators, bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) and alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula), in Lake Pontchartrain, an oligohaline estuary in southeastern Louisiana.  Estuaries and Coasts 30 (4): 1–8.

O’Connell, M.T. with R.C. Cashner and C.S. Schieble.  2006.  “Fish assemblage instability  and hydrologic influences in Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana (USA), a degraded oligohaline estuary” in Coastal Environment and Water Quality (eds. Y. Jun Xu and Vijay P. Singh).  Water Resources Publication (LLC), Highlands Ranch, CO.  519 pp.

Barko, V.A. with D. P. Herzog and M.T. O’Connell.  2006.  Response of fishes to re-established floodplain connectivity along a temperate North American River.  Wetlands 26 (1): 244-257.

O’Connell, M.T. with C.D. Franze, E.A. Spalding, and M.A. Poirrier.  2005.  Biological    Resources of the Louisiana Coast: Part 2.  Coastal Animals and Habitat Associations. Journal of Coastal Research 44: 146-161.

O’Connell, M.T. with A.M.U. O’Connell and J. D. Williams. 2005.  Assessment of rarity of the blackmouth shiner Notropis melanostomus (Cyprinidae) based on museum and recent    survey data.  Southeastern Naturalist 4(2): 246-260.

Chávez-López, R., with J. Franco-López, A. Morán-Silva, and M.T. O’Connell.  2005.  Long-term fish assemblage dynamics of the Alvarado Lagoon Estuary, Veracruz, Mexico.  Gulf    and Caribbean Research 17: 145-156.

O’Connell, M.T. with R.C. Cashner and C.S. Schieble.  2004.  Fish assemblage stability over fifty years in the Lake Pontchartrain Estuary; comparisons among habitats using Canonical Correspondence Analysis.  Estuaries 27(5): 807-817.

O’Connell, M.T.  2003.  The direct exploitation of prey on an inundated floodplain by cherryfin shiners, (Lythrurus roseipinnis) in a low order, blackwater stream.  Copeia 2003 (3): 635–645.

O’Connell, M.T. with R.C. Cashner and G.N. Fuentes.  2002.  Application of a diffusion model   to describe a recent invasion; observations and insights concerning early stages of expansion for the introduced Rio Grande cichlid, Cichlasoma cyanoguttatum, in southeastern Louisiana.  Aquatic Invaders 13 (4): 13-21.