Dennis W. Rondorf

Email: dennis_rondorf@usgs.gov

M.S. Oceanography and Limnology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Currently, Research Fishery Biologist and project leader for the Anadromous Fish Ecology Section at the Columbia River Research Laboratory, Cook, Washington.

For the past 24 years he has led research activities in the Columbia and Snake River basins for the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, U. S. National Biological Survey, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Current areas of research are primarily in the ecology and behavior of juvenile salmon and steelhead during the seaward migration. His research has addressed questions related to habitat use by juvenile fall chinook use during their rearing in the Hanford Reach, the last free flowing reach of the Columbia River, Washington and the potential impacts of water level fluctuations associated with hydroelectric generation. Other research activities include the evaluation of prototype fish passage devices to improve survival of endangered salmon during the seaward migration. Those devices have included prototype surface collectors and a removable spillway weir, both designed to take advantage of the fishes natural behavior of migrating near the surface of the reservoirs. In recent years, he has lead research teams using technologies such as radio telemetry, geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV), 3-dimensional location of fish using acoustic tags, and acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) as research tools.

Representative Publications:

Adams, N.S., G.E. Johnson, D.W. Rondorf, S.M. Anglea, and T. Wik. 2001. Biological evaluation of the behavioral guidance structure at Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River, Washington in 1998. American Fisheries Society Symposium 26:145-160.

Garland, R.D., K.F. Tiffan, D.W. Rondorf, and L.O. Clark. 2002. Comparison of subyearling fall Chinook salmon's use of riprap revetments and unaltered habitats in Lake Wallula of the Columbia River. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 22:1283-1289.

Perry, R.W., N.S. Adams, and D.W. Rondorf. 2001. Buoyancy compensation of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) implanted with two different size dummy transmitters. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 130:46-52.

Tiffan, K.F., R.D. Garland, and D.W. Rondorf. 2002 Quantifying flow-dependent changes in subyearling fall Chinook salmon rearing habitat using two-dimensional spatially explicit modeling. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 22:713-726.

Mailing Address:

U.S. Geological Survey
Western Fisheries Research Center
Columbia River Research Laboratory
5501-A Cook-Underwood Road
Cook, Washington 98606-9717

Phone: 509-538-2299 x228
Fax: 509-538-2843