Stephen D. McCormick

esearch Interests: 

Environmental and endocrine control of osmoregulation, growth, migration, development and reproduction in teleosts, primarily anadromous fishes.

Understanding how environmental factors affect animal performance (survival, growth and reproductive success) is important to our understanding of the natural world and how human activity affects it. My laboratory is interested in the environmental and endocrine control of osmoregulation, growth, migration, development and reproduction in teleosts, primarily anadromous fishes. Our current research focuses on physiological and environmental factors that affect conservation, restoration and enhancement of Atlantic salmon, American shad, blueback herring, alewife and Atlantic sturgeon. This includes laboratory and field work on underlying physiological principles and capacities, and applied work on contaminants, hatcheries, dams and with wild populations. Some of our current projects include the following:

Gill transport proteins involved in ion regulation of anadromous fishes and their hormonal control.

Environmental factors that affect the parr-smolt transformation of Atlantic salmon, including: endocrine disrupters, acidification and climate change.

Endocrine disruption in Atlantic sturgeon and shortnose sturgeon.

Temperature effects on growth and stress of Atlantic salmon and brook trout.

Impacts of evolutionary loss of anadromy (‘landlocking’) on physiology of Atlantic salmon, alewives, shad and lamprey.