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Date: February 22, 2024

Time: 6:00 p.m.

Location: Landrum Library

Speakers: Dennis Haney, Ph.D. and Professor of Biology at Furman University

Join us to learn about the effects of present-day and historical land use on stream structure and fish populations in the Piedmont of South Carolina. For a number of years Dennis’s research has focused on human effects on rural streams and the organisms living within those streams. Observations showed that fish populations in rural piedmont streams are lacking in numbers and variety of species when compared to similar areas in the southeastern USA, even in rural, forested locations where we would expect fish diversity to be high. Over the past 10 years Dennis has looked at various aspects that might contribute to this, conducting research on the effects of present-day land covers, historical land covers, and most recently focusing on microhabitat-level land covers (e.g., land cover adjacent to the stream channels) as possible explanations for present-day fish diversity and abundance. This presentation will summarize some of his findings over the past decade of work.

Dr. Dennis Haney is a Professor in the Biology Department at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, having been at Furman University since 1997. He received a B.A. in Biology at the University of California, San Diego, a M.S. in Zoology from Oregon State University, and a Ph.D. in Zoology at the University of Florida (1996). Dr. Haney’s research is in the area of environmental and comparative physiology. More specifically he is interested in the physiological responses of animals, especially fish, to environmental stressors. Since 1999 Dr. Haney has been involved in an interdisciplinary watershed research program at Furman University, the River Basins Research Initiative (RBRI), collaborating with colleagues in the Biology and Earth, Environmental, and Sustainability Sciences departments. His research has focused on studying the interactions between historic and present-day land use with water chemistry and geomorphology and how these factors affect the distribution and physiology of local stream fish. He is a strong advocate of undergraduate research, helping to mentor well over 150 undergraduate students since 1997. Dr. Haney’s students have given numerous presentations at national and regional scientific conferences and have been co-authors on a number of publications. Dr. Haney was Chair of the Biology department at Furman University for 9 years and teaches courses in Animal Physiology, Human Physiology, Marine Biology, Biostatistics, and has led field courses in Florida, the Bahamas, Belize, China, Ecuador, and the Galápagos Islands.

The Landrum Library Speaker Series programs are made possible thanks to our partnership with the Spartanburg County Public Libraries.

Contact Pam Torlina, [email protected], with questions or for more information.