Suresh Sethi

• Doctorate
  University of Washington-Seattle
  2011
• Master of Science
  University of Washington-Seattle
  2007
• Bachelor of Science
  University of Wisconsin-Madison
  2001

My research program integrates quantitative science + ecology + socioeconomic research to advance solutions to marine and aquatic ecosystem management problems ranging from local case studies to oceanscape scales.  Our work encompasses four core themes that advance ecosystem management: 1) Population ecology to support species management, 2) Disturbance ecology to assess the response of ecosystems to anthropogenic x natural perturbations, 3) Social-ecological systems management, and 4) Quantitative ecological tool development. We predominately work in fishery systems, with additional research on marine mammals and aquatic invasive species including round goby (a fish), Elodea (a plant), and hippos (in Colombia).

Natural resource systems are driven by people and nature. We collaborate across disciplines to advance solutions to ecosystem management problems. Recent examples of multidisciplinary work in our group include:

• Fisheries science + marine ecology + computer science to identify strategies for Alaskan fishing communities to adapt to climate change
• Aquatic ecology + computer science to identify optimal strategies to conserve or restore riverscape connectivity
• Statistics + genetics to advance novel population assessment tools for fish and wildlife
• Conservation + finance to advance flows of resources for global biodiversity conservation through double bottom line investments that achieve both ecological and financial returns.

Selected Publications

• Heilpern S, Fiorella K, Canas C, Flecker A, Moya L, Naeem S, Sethi SA, Uriarte M, DeFries R. (2021) Substitution of inland fisheries with aquaculture and chicken undermines human nutrition in the Peruvian Amazon. Nature Food, 2:192-197.
• Andres KA, Sethi SA, Lodge D, Andres J. (2021) Nuclear eDNA estimates population allele frequencies and abundance in experimental mesocosms and field samples. Molecular Ecology, 30:658-697.
• Sethi SA, Ashline J, Harris B, Gerken J, Restrepo F. (2021) Connectivity between lentic and lotic freshwater habitats identified as a conservation priority for coho salmon. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. In press.
• Deutz A, Heal GM, Niu R, Swanson E, Townshend T, Zhu L, Delmar A, Meghji A, Sethi SA, Tobin-de la Puente J (2020) Financing nature: closing the global biodiversity financing gap. The Paulson Institute, The Nature Conservancy, and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, 256pp.
• Marcy-Quay B, Sethi SA, Therkildsen NO, Kraft CE. (2020) Expanding the feasibility of fish and wildlife assessments with close-kin mark-recapture. Ecosphere, 11:e03259.
• Fitzgerald T, Higgins P, Quilligan E, Sethi SA, Tobin J. (2020) Catalyzing fisheries conservation investment. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 18:151-158.
• Moriarty M, Sethi SA, Pedreschi D, Smeltz TS, McGonigle C, Harris BP, Wolf N, Greenstreet SPR. (2020) Combining fisheries surveys to inform marine species distribution modelling. ICES Journal of Marine Science 77:539-552.
• Almeida RM, Shi Q, Gomes-Selman J, Wu X, Xue Y, Angarita H, Barros N, Forsberg BR, Garcia-Villacorta R, Hamilton SK, Melack JM, Montoya M, Perez G, Sethi SA, Gomes CP, Flecker AS (2019) Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of Amazon hydropower with optimal dam planning. Nature Communications 12:4281.
• Smeltz TS, Harris B, Olson J, Sethi SA (2019) A discrete time seascape model to support management of benthic habitat impacts from fishing. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 76:1836-1844.
• Sethi SA, Larson W, Turnquist K, Isermann D (2019) Estimating the number of contributors to DNA mixtures provides a novel tool for ecology. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 10:109-119.
• Sethi SA, O’Hanley JR, Gerken J, Ashline J, Bradley C (2017). High value of ecological information for river connectivity restoration. Landscape Ecology 32: 2327-2336.
• Sethi SA, Carey MP, Morton J, Guerron-Orejuela E, Decino R, Willette M, Boersma J, Jablonski J, Anderson C (2017) Rapid response for invasive waterweeds at the arctic invasion front: assessment of collateral impacts from herbicide treatments. Biological Conservation 212:300-309.
• Sethi SA, Reimer M, Knapp G (2014) Alaskan fishing community revenues and the stabilizing role of fishing portfolios.  Marine Policy 48:134-141.
• Sethi SA, Branch TA, Watson R (2010) Global fishery development patterns are driven by profit but not trophic level.  PNAS 107:12163-12167.
• Sethi SA (2010) Risk management for fisheries. Fish and Fisheries 11:341-365.

• Ulster University Excellence Award for International Collaboration (2019)
• USGS Scientific Excellence Award to the NY Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit (Profs.  Fuller and Sethi, 2017)
• Faculty Fellow, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability (2016-present)
• University Fellow, Ulster University (2016-present)