Christian Swartzbaugh is a PhD candidate in the Odum School of Ecology advised by Drs. Krista Capps and Stacey Lance. He studies the behavior and interactions of minnows, an understudied group of North American fishes, and is particularly interested in why and how mixed-species groups of minnows form. He is originally from Pennsylvania, where his love for studying freshwater systems began in small streams in the Appalachian foothills. 

He will be presenting: Fish Out of Water: Research, Rescue and the Race to Save the Laurel Dace.

The Laurel Dace (Chrosomus saylori) is a critically endangered fish now found in only two streams on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee and the focus of conservation/reintroduction efforts by the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute in Chattanooga. Success is dependent on leveraging critical research into the fish's life history, recovery of its impaired habitat and propagation of the species in human care, all while balancing the needs of diverse stakeholders in both the government and private sectors. Christian's work focuses on understanding how we might harness the power of positive species interactions to bolster our chances of a successful reintroduction.