Erin Stewart

Oxygen supersaturation has been reported to protect aquatic animals from heat waves. We tested this in a large collaborative experiment on many species of fish and crustaceans. Our new paper in @plosbiology.org shows that the effect of hyperoxia on thermal tolerance is negligible. Unfortunately.

Raby lab retreat this week at Harkness Lab of Fisheries Research was a great success!

Thanks to the ghost of F.E.J. Fry for writing inspiration 👻🐟

The FINclub 2025 team (most of us)!

Now off for the SEB conference @sebiology.bsky.social 🧪🐟

Some great talks on fish metabolism, thermal tolerance, and bioenergetics by folks from @trentuniversity.bsky.social at this year’s #SEBconference in Antwerp, Belgium.

@sebiology.bsky.social
@erinmcstewart.bsky.social
@jaydebon.bsky.social
@chris-on-fish.bsky.social

Visiting the nurse sharks at the Antwerp Zoo during #SEB2025 was a definite conference highlight!

A scientist presents her take-away slide on a large dark stage. It reads: Take-away • Zebrafish can evolve improved growth at warmer temperatures • Thermal performance curves can undergo a left or right shift • Ectothermic vertebrates may adapt to global warming by enhancing performance • Role of selection in shaping thermal resilence

A scientist presents her title slide on a large stage, it features a beautiful picture of a brook trout.

A scientist presents the methods of her research on a large screen

A terrific afternoon for fish biology here at #SEBconference ❤️🐟 Great talks by @leeuwisrobin.bsky.social, Moa Metz, and @erinmcstewart.bsky.social about different ways that fish respond to climate warming!

FINclub research trip going well! 32 people, dozens of fish and invert species, 16 experiments, two dogs and lots of fun. Some photos in thread.
🧪🐟🦑

🚨Preprint alert!🚨

We found that relevant levels of aquatic oxygen supersaturation do not always offer protective benefits to aquatic ectotherms during acute warming. 🌡️

Big collaborative project with A LOT of CTmax trials!!!

ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

How do fish evolve to tolerate higher temperatures, and are there trade-offs? We explore these questions in our new paper
@natclimate.nature.com led by Anna Andreassen
@annahandreassen.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪🐟🦑

Really enjoying the Conservation Physiology in Action articles written by early career researchers. This one by Zoe Storm from JCU, commenting on the fine work by @erinmcstewart.bsky.social and team.

Thanks @zoe-storm.bsky.social for writing a great piece on our recent brook trout work! 🔥 ❄️ 🐟

Links to her ConsPhys in Action article & our research paper below ⬇️

Congrats to Graham Raby for winning the outstanding mentor award at AFS OC this weekend! Turns out we all had lots to say about what we think of his leadership skills ✨🥳

What are the effects of tagging on fishes? 🐟

Our review + meta-analysis explores intracoelomic tagging effects in fishes. We summarize the existing literature and examine the 2% rule using evidence from a broad representation of all published studies.

Preprint link below! 🧵

Going to @sebiology.bsky.social 2025? Consider submitting an abstract to our session on "Shared challenges & diverse approaches to physiology in conservation" open to ~all taxa~ 🐟🐻🦋🌿 Organized by Drs. Britney Firth, Sean Tomlinson, Zjef Pereboom & non-Dr me! #SEB2025

Workshop info card: Demystifying the publication process On Feb 21 from 12:55-1:40 pm In Wentworth A at the SCAS conference in Hamilton Info displayed over an image of two whales swimming underwater

Are you headed to this month’s annual Society of Canadian Aquatic Sciences conference in Hamilton? Have students or are yourself new to the world of scientific publishing?

Grab your lunch and join me to chat all about the process, tips and tricks ✍️

#SCAS2025 @cdnsciencepub.bsky.social

Are you new to CTmax tests? Are you experienced, but unsure on what to report in your Methods section? Do you think there any other factors at play? 🤔

Then this practical guide is for you! 😎

Glad I could be a part of this effort which could help with studies comparisons! 🤩

In this new preprint on ecoevorxiv we provide a detailed, practical guide to measuring CTmax and CTmin in aquatic animals.

Amazing team of authors! 🧪🐟🦑

Raby
@rachaelmorgan.bsky.social
Andreassen
@erinmcstewart.bsky.social
@jaydebon.bsky.social

ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

Thank you!

It was a pleasure to be Erin's research assistant on this project in 2021! Here are some of the amazing and variable streams we visited during our fieldwork.

A poster for our pub talk Islands of Water in a Sea of Land: Newly Discovered Species Diversity of Fish in Algonquin Park. Feb 11, 7:30 pm, the Publican. Dr. Mark Ridgway is pictured holding up a 2 foot fish with blue lakewater stretching out in the background

We're back in February for more conservation science! Join Dr. Mark Ridgway for the scoop on Algonquin Park lake fish. There's more going on beneath the waters than we thought!

Wild brook trout populations varied meaningfully in their CTmax and vulnerability; they won’t be able to cope with future warming and heat waves through acclimation alone. These results can help with prioritizing conservation and management actions at local scales.

🧵 5/5

Populations in southern Ontario watersheds with more urban 🏙️ and agricultural 🌾 development were the most vulnerable to heat waves ☀️

Populations in less developed areas and with more groundwater influence ❄️ had the highest TSMs.

🧵 4/5

We found that stream temp (acclimation) 🌡️ and other site-level effects accounted for most of the variation among populations. TSMs varied substantially (15C!), reflective of the variation in site thermal regimes.

🧵 3/5

We measured field CTmax of 20 wild brook trout populations across Ontario. We paired this with stream temp data & other site characteristics to examine thermal vulnerability and calculate thermal safety margins (TSMs) for each population.

🧵 2/5

Local conditions drive interpopulation variation in field-based critical thermal maximum of brook trout Abstract. Individual- and population-level responses to thermal change will be pivotal for species’ resilience and adaptive responses to climate change. Th

📣 Just published in @conphysjournal.bsky.social with @jacobbowman.bsky.social, Chris Wilson, and Graham Raby

How much does upper thermal tolerance vary among wild populations of brook trout? What drives this variation? 🌡️

🧵1/5

doi.org/10.1093/conp...