Peter B. Moyle

People Portrait: Peter Moyle

Associate Director
Faculty
Emeritus

  • Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology

Peter Moyle is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and associate director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, UC Davis.

He is author or co-author of more than 275 peer-reviewed publications, including books such as Fishes: an introduction to Ichthyology (5ᵗʰ edition 2004), co-authored with Joe Cech; Inland Fishes of California (2002); Suisun Marsh: ecological history and possible futures, co-authored with Amber Manfree and Peggy Fielder (2014); and "Floodplains: processes and management for ecosystem services", with Jeff Opperman as the lead author and Amber Manfree, Joan Florsheim, and Eric Larsen as coauthors (2017).  His most recent book is Environmental Flow Assessment: Methods and Applications (2019 Wiley Blackwell) with co-authors John Williams (lead author), Angus Webb, and Mathias Kondolf.

He has served on numerous advisory bodies, including the Ecosystem Restoration Program Science Board of the California Bay-Delta Authority, the National Research Council Panel on the Klamath River, and the Independent Science Advisory Board of the Northwest Power Planning Council, as well as serving as an expert witness in trials and hearings dealing with California fish issues. He is a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, the Ecological Society of America, the American Fisheries Society, and the AAAS.

His research interests include ecology and conservation of aquatic species, habitats, and ecosystems with special emphasis on ecology of fishes of the San Francisco Estuary, ecology of California stream fishes, novel aquatic ecosystems, and taxonomy of California endemic fishes.

He has had long-term research projects in Suisun Marsh and Putah Creek with shorter-term projects in the north Delta and other localities around northern California. 

Research Interests & Expertise
  • Ecology and Conservation of Freshwater and Estuarine Fishes
Membership and Service
  • California Trout
  • Public Policy Institute of California
  • Point Blue Conservation Science

Peter B. Moyle's Recent Projects

Conservation of inland fish biodiversity

Knowledge of species' spatial distributions is crucial to the identification and prioritization of watersheds in need of restoration. Coupled with species' status, the presence and or absence of species can indicate biologically diverse vs. depauperate areas.

Shasta River

Interdisciplinary teams of Center scientists are investigating the causes for the decline of salmon and steelhead in Shasta River, historically one of the most productive tributaries in the lower Klamath Basin. A large spring complex (Big Springs Creek) provides the majority of its water, particularly during the summer.

PISCES - Fish Distribution Tracking, Modelling, and Analysis

PISCES is software and data describing the best-known ranges for California's native fish. The data is compiled from multiple sources and experts and is stored and exported as rangemaps and summary maps. As of December 2013, it includes data on all of the state's 131 native fish taxa as well as 48 non-native species.

El Ocote Reserve

Chiapas (Mexico) and California share many similar challenges regarding the conservation of rivers and streams and the organisms that dwell in them. Although fishes in both states are highly diverse, this biodiversity is under multiple threats including effects from cattle grazing, forest fires, dam operations, and climate change. Collaboration between the El Ocote Biosphere Reserve and the Klamath National Forest began in 1993 in order to provide research expertise and training between the two forests. Past efforts have documented fish species presence and distribution within the Reserve (2005-2008; Gonzalez-Diaz et al. 2008, Anzueto-Calvo et al. 2013), as well as identified threats to aquatic habitats (2010-2012).

Collaboration with Technische Universität München

UCD and the Technische Universität München (TUM) are conducting research to quantify changes in species distributions through the contraction or expansion of ranges. The collaborative effort began in 2011 with a two week summer school hosted by TUM. The main topic of the summer school was Life Sciences in the 21st Century with a Focus on Water. Later, beginning in April 2012, one of the participants of the summer school, Rebecca Quiñones, was awarded a one-year scholarship to pursue postdoctoral research at TUM.