Statewide Fisheries Research - Staff

Clemson

Mark Scott, Ph.D., Wildlife Biologist III

Contact Information
Email: scottm@dnr.sc.gov
Phone: 864-654-6346 (ext 14) (office),
864-982-2754 (cell)

I have been studying freshwater wetlands, streams, rivers, and lakes since 1988, and have broad experience in aquatic ecology throughout the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. I currently administer statewide projects out of the Clemson Research office, responsible for budgets, supervising staff, and overseeing technical operations. Projects generally involve research and monitoring focused on defining aquatic habitats necessary to sustain native species, particularly endemic southeastern fishes, mussels, and crayfishes. I provide my expertise to the study of watershed and landscape influences on freshwater ecosystems, with emphasis on gradient studies of the effects of anthropogenic perturbations on chemistry, channel morphology, and biological community structure. Through an adjunct faculty position, I collaborated with Clemson University faculty and students on a range of projects and I'm frequently invited for lectures, seminars, and symposia. My research projects have typically addressed the goals of quantifying landscape and watershed-scale influences on ecological patterns and processes in freshwaters, and obtaining appropriate data to drive development of spatially-explicit models to forecast aquatic ecosystem response to environmental change.

Kevin Kubach, Wildlife Biologist III

Contact Information
Email: kubachk@dnr.sc.gov
Phone: (864) 982-2778

Kevin Kubach is originally from New York and grew up in Ellicott City, Maryland and Alpharetta, Georgia. His interests in nature and aquatic life were sparked by annual trips to visit his grandparents in the "mountains" of New Jersey and Maine, saltwater fishing excursions along the mid-Atlantic coast and, above all else, forays into the neighborhood woods which usually involved a stream teeming with minnows and water striders. Kevin earned his B.A. in Biology and M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from Clemson University; his thesis focused on the reintroduction of the Turquoise Darter to a South Carolina Piedmont stream. He joined the SCDNR Freshwater Fisheries Research group in 2004 and has worked on projects including the Reedy River watershed and oil spill recovery study, the South Carolina Stream Assessment, the Broad River Sediment Management Study and the Small River Assessment. His research interests include freshwater fish biodiversity and conservation, relationships among watershed factors and stream and river integrity, and recovery of aquatic assemblages from disturbance.

Drew Gelder, Wildlife Biologist I

Contact Information
Email: gelderd@dnr.sc.gov
Phone: 864-498-3501

I graduated from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA in 2006 with a B.S. in Biology. My primary research interests include nongame fish, with special delight taken in catching bullhead catfish and bowfins! My duties include field sampling, data management, equipment maintenance, and assisting other projects when needed.