Franz Mueter

Franz Mueter

Chair, Department of Fisheries

President’s Professor of Quantitative Fisheries and Ecosystems

Commercial Fisheries
Fisheries Conservation
Fisheries Ecology
Fisheries Oceanography
Fisheries Population and Biometry
Fisheries Management


College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
17101 Point Lena Loop Rd
315 Lena Point Bldg.
Juneau, AK 99801-8344
907-796-5448
907-796-5447 (fax)
fmueter@alaska.edu

Office Hours

Tuesdays and Thursdays

1:30–3:30 pm

Education

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Ph.D. Fisheries Oceanography
1999

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M.S. Statistics
1998

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M.S. Biological Oceanography
1992

Rhino-Westphalian Technical University
B.S. Biology

 

Curriculum Vitae

 

 

Selected Publications

Mueter, F. J., Planque, B., Hunt Jr, G. L., Alabia, I. D., Hirawake, T., Eisner, L., Dalpadado, P., Drinkwater, K. F., Harada, N., Arneberg, P., and Saitoh, S.-I. (2021) Possible future scenarios in the Gateways to the Arctic for Subarctic and Arctic marine systems: II. Prey resources, food webs, fish, and fisheries. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 78(9): 3017-3045, 

Mueter, F.J., Iken, K., Cooper, L.W., Grebmeier, J.M., Kuletz, K.J., Hopcroft, R.R., Danielson, S.L., Collins, R.E., and Cushing, D.A. (2021). Changes in diversity and species composition across multiple assemblages in the eastern Chukchi Sea during two contrasting years are consistent with borealization. Oceanography 34(2): 38-51. 

Marsh, J.M., and F.J. Mueter. 2019. Influences of temperature, predators and competitors on Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) at the southern margin of their distribution. Polar Biology. 

Mueter, F.J., N.A. Bond, J.N. Ianelli, and A.B. Hollowed. 2011. Expected declines in recruitment of walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) in the eastern Bering Sea under future climate change. ICES Journal of Marine Science 68(6): 1284–1296, 

Mueter, F.J., and M.A. Litzow. 2008. Sea ice retreat alters the biogeography of the Bering Sea continental shelf. Ecological Applications 18(2): 309–32, 

Mueter, F.J., R.M. Peterman, and B.J. Pyper. 2002. Opposite effects of ocean temperature on survival rates of 120 stocks of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in northern and southern areas. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 59(3): 456–463, 

Specialties

  • climate effects on fish populations
  • dynamics of exploited populations
  • ecosystem oceanography
  • quantitative ecology
  • marine fisheries
  • multivariate analyses
  • population ecology
  • biostatistics
  • fisheries management

 

Research Overview

My research interests include the effects of climate variability, climate change, and fishing on marine and anadromous fish populations, particularly in subarctic and Arctic seas. Most of my research has focused on commercial fish populations in the Gulf of Alaska and the Eastern Bering Sea, in particular the effects of variability in temperature and ice conditions on their distribution, productivity, and abundance. I am particularly interested in the mechanisms controlling the productivity of individual populations and in the interactions among different species and functional groups. Much of my current research is in the Arctic, in particular the life history and dynamics of Arctic gadids, the impacts of climate change on Arctic marine ecosystems and the implications of a rapidly changing environment on resource-dependent communities. 

I believe that a comparative, macroecological approach offers one of the more promising approaches to improving our understanding of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Due to the complexities of marine ecosystems, a mechanistic understanding of populations in any given system based on detailed process studies is extremely challenging. However, evidence from individual species or systems, when compared and contrasted across systems, can greatly strengthen support for or against particular mechanisms. Much of my research draws on existing environmental and fisheries databases and on surveys conducted around the circumpolar north. Using multivariate and meta-analytical tools to quantify patterns of variability within and among different ecosystems, my research aims to identify the environmental drivers and the ecological principles that help shape marine ecosystems.

My ecological research, combined with active involvement in fisheries management issues, has contributed to the advancement of ecosystem-based approaches to the management of marine living resources in the North Pacific. In the face of global environmental changes that are more pronounced and are occurring more rapidly in the subarctic and Arctic, I am particularly interested in better understanding and enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of fish populations, coastal communities, and management frameworks in high-latitude regions.

 

Current Research Projects

  • . (Funding from NOAA-NOPP with additional funding from BOEM) Lead PI: K. Iken. Co-PIs: S. Danielson, R. Hopcroft, F. Mueter, E. Collins, J. Grebmeier, L. Cooper, R. Bochenek, K. Kuletz, M. Kavenaugh
  • Arctic Integrated Ecosystem Survey Phase II (Funding from BOEM, NOAA, NPRB as part of the ). UAF lead: F. Mueter
  • Environmental covariates of young of the year sablefish growth and recruitment in the Gulf of Alaska (F. Mueter, A. Pinchuk, W. Strasburger)
  • Ecological controls of Alaskan pollock weight-at-length and size-at-age under rapid environmental change (PI: M. Litzow) Funding from NOAA Saltonstall-Kennedy
  •  (NSF EPSCoR)
  • Go West: Sea-ice association of polar cod and its prey in the western Arctic Ocean (F. Mueter, A. Pinchuk, H. Flores). Funding from 
  • A transformative approach to rapidly assess critical life history and energetic responses of fish to environmental change. Alaska Sea Grant.

 

Affiliations

  • Co-chair, (ESSAS)
  • Co-chair, of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council
  • Member,
  • Contributing editor,