Michael Power

Michael Power carries out research in salmonid and northern fish ecology and is a world expert on Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) and oxygen isotope otolith microchemistry.

Research completed has applied SIA to determine trophic differentiation in Arctic ciscoes (Muir et al. 2014), Arctic charr (Eloranta et al. 2013) lake whitefish (Fagan et al. 2012) and Atlantic salmon (Dixon et al., 2012), measure critical changes in fish habitat use by resident stocks (Murdoch and Power 2013, Sinnatamby et al. 2013), determine long-term fluctuations in Atlantic salmon trophic positioning (Sinnatamby et al. 2009, Am. Fish. Symposium 69:447) and examined effects of water level fluctuations on lake resident fishes (Eloranta et al. 2016, Kelly et al. 2015). Power also has extensive experience in fish community (Attrill & Power 2002, Nature 417:275) and isotope analysis of estuarine and marine ecosystems (Sasko et al. 2016; Giraldo et al. 2016). Finally Power has been refines and applied otolith isotope methods useful for differentiating habitat use in fishes (e.g., Kelly et al 2015, Minke-Martin et al. 2015, Power et al. 2012).

Professor Power is currently accepting graduate students.

• Threats to Aquatic Ecosystems and their Interaction
• Contamination & Remediation: Water, Soil, Air
• Conservation
• Climate Change and Geosciences
• Ecology and Environmental Biology
• Managing the Risk of Human Activity in Aquatic Ecosystem
• Climate Extremes and Food Production

• 1990 Ph.D. Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada
• 1980 M.A. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Queen's University, Canada
• 1979 B.A. Faculty of Arts, University of Waterloo, Canada

• 2011 Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision

• 2012-present, Standing Member of the Freshwater Ecosystems Working Group (FEWG) of the CAFF (Circumpolar Arctic Flora and Fauna) sub-committee of the Arctic Council’s Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) initiative
• Journal Editorships: Associate Editor, Hydrobiologia, Associate Editor, Management and Ecology, Associate Editor, Arctic Science

• Water Institute

• BIOL 456 - Population Biology
  • Taught in 2024
• BIOL 489 - Arctic Ecology
  • Taught in 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Stasko, A. D., Swanson, H., Majewski, A., Atchison, S. Reist, J. D. and Power, M. 2016. Influences of depth and pelagic subsidies on the size-based trophic structure of Beaufort Sea fish communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 549:153-159.
• Eloranta, A. P., Sánchez-Hernández, J., Amundsen, P.-A., Skoglund, S., Brush, J. M., Henriksen, E. H. and Power, M. 2016. Water level regulation affects niche use of a lake top predator, Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus). Ecohydrology. First published online 5 July 2016. DOI:10.1002/eco.1766
• Kelly, B., Amundsen, P.-A. and Power, M. 2015. Thermal habitat segregation among morphotypes of whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus: Salmonidae) and invasive vendace (C. albula): a mechanism for coexistence. Freshwater Biology. 60:2337-2348.
• Harrison, P. M., Gutowsky, L. F. G., Martins, E. G., Patterson, D. A., Cooke, S. J. and Power, M. 2015. Personality-dependent spatial ecology occurs independently from dispersal in wild burbot (Lota lota). Behavioral Ecology. 26:483-492.
• Minke-Martin, V., Dempson, J,. B., Sheehan, T. F. and Power M. 2015. Otolith-derived estimates of marine temperature use by West Greenland Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). ICES Journal of Marine Science. 72:2139-2148.
• Murdoch, A., Dempson, J. B., Martin, F. and Power, M. 2015.Temperature-growth patterns of individually tagged anadromous Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus in Ungava and Labrador, Canada. Ecology of Freshwater Fish. 24:193-203.
• van der Velden, S., Dempson, J. B. and Power, M. 2015. Comparing mercury concentrations across a thirty year time span in anadromous and non-anadromous Arctic charr from Labrador, Canada. Science of the Total Environment. 509:165-174.
• Sinnatamby, R. N., Dempson, J. B., Reist, J. D. and Power, M. 2015. Latitudinal variation in growth and otolith-inferred field metabolic rates of Canadian young-of-the-year Arctic charr. Ecology of Freshwater Fish. 24:478-488.
• Muir, A. M., Vecsei, P., Power, M., Krueger, C. and Reist, J. D. 2014. Morphology and life history of the Great Salve Lake ciscoes (Salmoniforme: Coregonidae). Ecology of Freshwater Fish. 23:453-469.
• Eloranta, A., Mariash, H., Rautio, M. and Power, M. 2013. Lipid-rich zooplankton subsidize the winter diet of benthivorous Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) in a subaractic lake. Freshwater Biology. 58:2541-2554.
• Murdoch, A. and Power, M. 2013. The effect of lake morphometry on thermal habitat use an d growth in Arctic charr populations: implications for understanding climate-change impacts. Ecology of Freshwater Fish. 22:453-466.
• Sinnatamby, R. N., Shears, M., Dempson, J. B. and Power, M. 2013. Thermal habitat use and growth in young-of-the-year Arctic charr from proximal fluvial and lacustrine populations in Labrador, Canada. Journal of Thermal Biology. 38:493-501.
• Power, M., O’Connell, M. F. and Dempson, J. B.2012. Determining the consistency of thermal habitat segregation within and among Arctic charr morphotypes in Gander Lake, Newfoundland. Ecology of Freshwater Fish. 21:245-254.