College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Major Advisor:

Scott Colborne

Background:

Taylor Skiles received her B.S. in Zoology at the University of Wyoming. At UW she worked for Dr. William Fetzer preparing tissue samples for stable isotope analysis to understand aquatic food webs in Wyoming reservoirs and Lake Michigan. After graduation and a short stint working for Wyoming Game and Fish, Taylor moved to Charlevoix, MI to work with Michigan DNR at the Charlevoix Research Station as a fisheries technician. In this position, she surveyed a variety of Northern Lake Michigan spawning reefs to assess habitat conditions and to quantify spawning activity by lake whitefish. Taylor partnered with USGS and the GLFC on the Spawning Whitefish and Invasive Mussels (SWIM) Project to assess the effects of dreissenid mussels on lake whitefish eggs and larvae survival. She will continue to work on the SWIM Project as she begins her M.S. with Dr. Scott Colborne, using acoustic telemetry methods to quantify the movements and behaviors of spawning lake whitefish and lake trout, as well as the potential for interspecies interactions on Good Harbor Bay spawning reef in Lake Michigan.