Undergraduate:

BIOL1040 Environmental Issues

BIOL3100: Environmental Studies

ENVS 3170: Everglades Ecology and Conservation

Graduate:

Ecology & Evolution of Invasive Species

Marine Protected Areas

Wetland Ecology

My research interests are focused on the study of how anthropogenic disturbance alters the nature of key ecological processes and mechanisms. I am particularly interested in understanding how anthropogenic disturbance alters the nature of species interactions such as predation and competition. My research encompasses both biotic (i.e., non-indigenous species) and abiotic (i.e., hydrological regimes) alterations to aquatic and estuarine systems.

Biological invasions provide an excellent model system for the study of species interactions. My research aims to gain a predictive understanding of the key mechanisms underlying invasion success and impact by non-native fishes. I am particularly interested in investigating the role of behavior as a key mechanism mediating novel interactions between invaders and resident species during an invasion.

Ongoing work examines the structuring role of hydrologic disturbance on aquatic communities, as well as the interacting effects of effects of hydrological disturbance and non-indigenous species on native fish communities. I research these issues in freshwater marshes and mangrove regions in the Everglades ecosystem. Current projects look at the the effects of hydrology on the fish community in the mangrove ecotone, and interactions among native fishes and non-native cichlids in freshwater marshes within Everglades National Park.

• Ashley Porter: Comparison of predatory effects of two non-native cichlid predators in Everglades marshes.
• Kate Dunlop: Examination of cue utilization and anti-predator responses by native Everglades taxa to a non-native predator, the African jewelfish.
• Lauren McCarthy: Segregation of Palaemonid shrimp species along a salinity gradient in Shark River, Everglades National Park.
• Megan Seese: Evaluation of the role of Laurencia spp in Thalassia testudinum beds in Abaco, Bahamas as habitat for juvenile fishes and macroinvertebrates.
• Tiffany Trent: Effects of periphyton nutrient content on the growth and survivorship of Florida apple snails in the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.

Selected Publications (Complete publication list)

Rehage, J.S. and J.C. Trexler. 2006. Assessing the net effect of anthropogenic disturbance on aquatic communities in wetlands: Community structure relative to distance from canals. Hydrobiologia 569:359-373.
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Rehage, J.S., B.K. Barnett, and A. Sih. 2005. Foraging behavior and invasiveness: Do invasive Gambusia exhibit higher feeding rates and broader diets than their non-invasive relatives? Ecology of Freshwater Fish 14: 352-360.
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Rehage, J.S., B.K. Barnett, and A. Sih. 2005. Behavioral responses to a novel predator and competitor of invasive mosquitofish and their non-invasive relatives (Gambusia sp.). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 57: 256-266.
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Rehage, J.S. and A. Sih. 2004. Dispersal behavior, boldness and the link to invasiveness: A comparison of four Gambusia species. Biological Invasions 6: 379-391.
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Rehage, J.S., S.G. Lynn, J.I. Hammond, B.D. Palmer, and A. Sih. 2002. Effects of larval exposure to Triphenyltin on the survival, growth, and behavior of larval and juvenile Ambystoma barbouri. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 21: 807-815.
Click here to view the entire paper (415Kb).