IMS Directory Listing
- Title
- Assistant Project Scientist
- Division Physical & Biological Sciences Division
- Department
- IMS-Fisheries Collaborative Program
- Phone 831-420-3986
- Website
- CalFishTrack - Acoustic Telemetry Data Visualization and Repository
- Maven's Notebook Blog Post on our predation research
- Article on our Inter-agency Acoustic Telemetry Program in San Francisco Estuary Magazine
- Press on a study investigating nonlinear survival of Chinook salmon as a function of flow
- Press release on the first spring pulse flow on the Sacramento River to aid spring-run Chinook
- Office Location
- Long Marine Lab Service Building, 229-B
- NMFS, 110 McAllister Road, Long Marine Lab
- Mail Stop NMFS
Summary of Expertise
My work focuses on the survival and migrations of imperiled juvenile salmon in California. California is not only the southern extent of range distribution for most Pacific salmon species, meaning California’s environment is often marginal for salmon preferences and tolerances, but furthermore, in the most populated U.S. State with thriving agribusiness (despite being a dry climate), salmonid populations are arguably more at odds with humankind and their impacts here than anywhere else. My particular research focuses are regarding what environmental conditions and habitat features seem to influence survival and migration of juvenile salmon, both directly and indirectly through the top-down controls of various native and introduced predator species.
Biography, Education and Training
Master of Arts - Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 12/2010
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California - Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States
Advisor: R. Bruce Macfarlane
Bachelor of Science – Marine Biology 9/2006
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California - Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States
Selected Publications
Michel, C. J., M. E. Daniels, and E. M. Danner. 2023. Discharge-mediated temperature management in a large, regulated river, with implications for management of endangered fish. Water Resources Research, 59, e2023WR035077.
Demetras, N. J., T. R. Nelson, B. M. Lehman, and C. J. Michel. 2023. Development of a castable, GPS enabled, Miniaturized Predation Event Recorder (mPER) to quantify predation of juvenile fishes. Fisheries Research 264:106706.
Henderson, M. J., C. M. Loomis, C. J. Michel, J. M. Smith, I. S. Iglesias, B. M. Lehman, N. J. Demetras, and D. D. Huff. 2023. Estimates of Predator Densities Using Mobile DIDSON Surveys: Implications for Survival of Central Valley Chinook Salmon. North American Journal of Fisheries Management.
Nelson, T. R., C. J. Michel, M. P. Gary, B. M. Lehman, N. J. Demetras, P. N. Dudley, J. J. Hammen, and M. J. Horn. 2022. Riverine fish density, predator-prey interactions, and their relationships with artificial light at night. Ecosphere 13:e4261.
McInturf, A. G., K. W. Zillig, K. Cook, J. Fukumoto, A. Jones, E. Patterson, D. Cocherell, C. Michel, D. Caillaud, N. A. Fangue. In hot water? Assessing the link between fundamental thermal physiology and predation of juvenile Chinook salmon. Ecosphere. 11:e4264.
Nobriga, M. L., C. J. Michel, R. C. Johnson, and J. D. Wikert. 2021. Coldwater fish in a warm water world: Implications for predation of salmon smolts during estuary transit. Ecology and Evolution 11:10381-10395.
Michel, C. J., J. J. Notch, F. Cordoleani, A. J. Ammann, and E. M. Danner. 2021. Nonlinear survival of imperiled fish informs managed flows in a highly modified river. Ecosphere 12:e03498.
Nelson, T. R., C. J. Michel, M. P. Gary, B. M. Lehman, N. J. Demetras, J. J. Hammen, and M. J. Horn. Effects of artificial lighting at night (ALAN) on predator density and salmonid predation. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 150(2):147-159.
Michel, C. J., J. M. Smith, B. M. Lehman, N. J. Demetras, D. D. Huff, P. L. Brandes, J. A. Israel, T. P. Quinn, and S. A. Hayes. 2020. Limitations of Active Removal to Manage Predatory Fish Populations. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 40:3-16.
Notch, J. J., A. S. McHuron, C. J. Michel, F. Cordoleani, M. Johnson, M. J. Henderson, and A. J. Ammann. 2020. Outmigration survival of wild Chinook salmon smolts through the Sacramento River during historic drought and high water conditions. Environmental Biology of Fishes 103:561-576.
Michel, C. J., M. J. Henderson, C. M. Loomis, J. M. Smith, N. J. Demetras, I. S. Iglesias, B. M. Lehman, and D. D. Huff. 2020. Fish predation on a landscape scale. Ecosphere 11:e03168.
Lehman, B. L., M. P. Gary, N. J. Demetras, and C. J. Michel. 2019. Where Predators and Prey Meet: Anthropogenic Contact Points Between Fishes in a Freshwater Estuary. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science 17.
Friedman, W., Martin, B., Wells, B., Warzybok, P., Michel, C., Danner, E., and Lindley, S. 2019. Modeling composite effects of marine and freshwater processes on migratory species. Ecosphere 10.
Michel, C. J. 2019. Decoupling outmigration from marine survival indicates outsized influence of streamflow on cohort success for California’s Chinook salmon populations. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 76:1398-1410.
Henderson, M. J., I. S. Iglesias, C. J. Michel, A. J. Ammann, and D. D. Huff. 2019. Estimating spatial–temporal differences in Chinook salmon outmigration survival with habitat- and predation-related covariates. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 76:1549-1561.
Sabal, M. C., C. J. Michel, J. M. Smith, A. Hampton, and S. A. Hayes. 2018. Seasonal Movement Patterns of Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) in Their Nonnative Range. Estuaries and Coasts 42:567-579.
Michel, C. J., J. M. Smith, N. J. Demetras, D. D. Huff, S. A. Hayes. 2018. Non-native Fish Predator Density and Molecular-based Diet Estimates Provide Direct Evidence of Predation on Juvenile Salmon in the San Joaquin River, California. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science 16(4).
Cordoleani, F., J. Notch, A. McHuron, A. J. Ammann, and C. J. Michel. 2018. Movement and Survival of Wild Chinook Salmon Smolts from Butte Creek During Their Out‐Migration to the Ocean: Comparison of a Dry Year versus a Wet Year. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 147:171-184.
Perry, R. W., A. C. Pope, J. G. Romine, P. L. Brandes, J. R. Burau, A. R. Blake, A. J. Ammann, and C. J. Michel. 2018. Flow-mediated effects on travel time, routing, and survival of juvenile Chinook salmon in a spatially complex, tidally forced river delta. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences: 1-16.
Cutter Jr., G. R., S. C. Manugian, J. Renfree, J. M. Smith, C. J. Michel, D. D. Huff, T. S. Sessions, B. E. Elliot, K. Stierhoff, S. Mau, D. Murfin, and D. A. Demer. 2017. Mobile Acoustic Sampling to Map Bathymetry and Quantify the Densities and Distributions of Salmonid Smolt Predators in the San Joaquin River. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-575:134 pp.
Demetras, N. J., D. D. Huff, C. J. Michel, J. M. Smith, G. R. Cutter, S. A. Hayes, and S. T. Lindley. 2016. Development of underwater recorders to quantify predation of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in a river environment. Fishery Bulletin:179-185.
Martin, B. T., R. M. Nisbet, A. Pike, C. J. Michel, and E. M. Danner. 2015. Sport science for salmon and other species: ecological consequences of metabolic power constraints. Ecology Letters 18:535-544.
Michel, C. J., A. J. Ammann, S. T. Lindley, P. T. Sandstrom, E. D. Chapman, M. J. Thomas, G. P. Singer, A. P. Klimley, and R. B. MacFarlane. 2015. Chinook salmon outmigration survival in wet and dry years in California’s Sacramento River. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 72:1749-1759.
Chapman, E. D., A. R. Hearn, C. J. Michel, A. J. Ammann, S. T. Lindley, M. J. Thomas, P. T. Sandstrom, G. P. Singer, M. L. Peterson, R. B. MacFarlane, and A. P. Klimley. 2013. Diel movements of out-migrating Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) smolts in the Sacramento/San Joaquin watershed. Environmental Biology of Fishes 96:273-286.
Michel, C. J., A. J. Ammann, E. D. Chapman, P. T. Sandstrom, H. E. Fish, M. J. Thomas, G. P. Singer, S. T. Lindley, A. P. Klimley, and R. B. MacFarlane. 2013. The effects of environmental factors on the migratory movement patterns of Sacramento River yearling late-fall run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Environmental Biology of Fishes 96:257-271.
Ammann, A. J., C. J. Michel, and R. B. MacFarlane. 2013. The effects of surgically implanted acoustic transmitters on laboratory growth, survival and tag retention in hatchery yearling Chinook salmon. Environmental Biology of Fishes 96:135-143.
Perry, R., P. Brandes, J. Burau, A. Klimley, B. MacFarlane, C. Michel, and J. Skalski. 2013. Sensitivity of survival to migration routes used by juvenile Chinook salmon to negotiate the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Environmental Biology of Fishes 96:381-392.
Hayes, S., N. Teutschel, C. Michel, C. Champagne, P. Robinson, M. Fowler, T. Yack, D. Mellinger, S. Simmons, D. Costa, and R. MacFarlane. 2013. Mobile receivers: releasing the mooring to ‘see’ where fish go. Environmental Biology of Fishes 96:189-201.
Sandstrom, P., A. Ammann, C. Michel, G. Singer, E. Chapman, S. Lindley, R. MacFarlane, and A. Klimley. 2013. Growth, survival, and tag retention of steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and its application to survival estimates. Environmental Biology of Fishes 96:145-164.
Moore, J. W., S. A. Hayes, W. Duffy, S. Gallagher, C. J. Michel, and D. Wright. 2011. Nutrient fluxes and the recent collapse of coastal California salmon populations. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 68:1161-1170.
Michel, C. J. 2010. River and estuarine survival and migration of yearling Sacramento River Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) smolts and the influence of environment. Master’s thesis, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, p. 1-130.