Stephan Peake

Academic interests

• human impacts on ecology, behaviour and physiology of fish
• exercise physiology of fish
• fish passage through culverts and fishways

Brief biography

I grew up in southern Ontario in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. I began my undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph in 1988, and graduated with a general BSc in 1993. During that time I pursued a career as a commercial pilot; however, ultimately returned to Guelph to upgrade to an honour’s degree that would allow me to enter an MSc program. My honours undergraduate thesis focused on swimming capacity of lake sturgeon in relation to fishway passage, a topic that continued (with different fish species) at the University of Waterloo in an MSc program. Field work for that degree occurred in Newfoundland.

After graduating with my MSc, I enrolled in a PhD program at Simon Fraser University. My thesis focussed on behaviour, physiology and biomechanics of fish swimming in a large raceway. As the work was funded by Manitoba Hydro, field work occurred in that province. Following my doctorate work, I accepted a faculty position at UNB through an industrial research chair program sponsored by Manitoba Hydro and NSERC. The early part of my career focussed on fish passage, as well as ecology of lake sturgeon in the Winnipeg River. My recent work has focussed on culvert passage of fish in New Brunswick, as well as the ecology of Atlantic salmon, sturgeon, and muskellunge in relation to the Mactaquac Generating Station (as a small part of the MAES project lead by Dr. Allen Curry).

Courses taught

• BIOL2003. Introduction to Ecology
• BIOL3703: Vertebrate Zoology
• BIOL4741: Fish Biology
• BIOL4823: Life in Extreme Environments

Selected research

1. McDougall, C.A., W.G. Anderson, C.L. Hrenchuk and S.J. Peake (2014). The rapid upstream migration of pre-spawn lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, following trap and transport over a hydroelectric generating station. North American Journal of Fisheries Management.

2. Zubair, S. N., S.J Peake, J.F. Hare and W.G Anderson (2012). The effect of temperature and substrate on the development of the cortisol stress response in the lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, Rafinesque (1817). Environmental biology of fishes. 93: 577-587.

3. Breau, C., RA Cunjak, and S.J. Peake (2011). Behaviour during elevated water temperatures: can physiology explain movement of juvenile Atlantic salmon to cool water? Journal of Animal Ecology. 80: 844-853.

4. Peake, S.J. (2008). Behavior and passage performance of northern pike, walleyes, and white suckers in an experimental raceway. N. Amer. J. Fish. Man. 28:321-335.