People | Timothy E. Targett

Timothy E. Targett
Professor
Marine Biosciences
University of Delaware
College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment
112 Smith Laboratory
 Phone: 1-302-645-4396

 119/120 Smith Laboratory
 Phone: 1-302-645-4380

ttargett@udel.edu

 

Education

  • B.S., Biology, University of Maine, 1972.
  • M.S., Marine Biology, RSMAS, University of Miami, 1975.
  • Ph.D., Zoology, University of Maine, 1979.

Research Interests

  • Ecology of estuarine and coastal marine fish
  • Physiological ecology of feeding, digestion, growth, and survival
  • Essential fish habitat (EFH) and recruitment processes
  • Trophic biology, marine and estuarine food webs, energetics

Current Projects

  • Laboratory and field assessment of the impacts of hypoxia on estuarine nursery habitat quality for juvenile estuary-dependent fishes. Effects of chronic and diel-cycling hypoxia on feeding, growth, survival and avoidance behavior of young weakfish, summer flounder, winter flounder, and striped bass across a range of temperatures and salinities.
  • Determining the relative resource value of hypoxia-impacted habitats for young estuary-dependent fishes. Studies of the spatial extent and severity of diel-cycling hypoxia in Delaware’s Coastal Bay tributaries. Examining fishes and prey (benthic & epibenthic) across spatiotemporal gradients of diel-cycling hypoxia to investigate when and why juvenile fish move in and out of these nursery systems in response to short-term changes in dissolved oxygen. (Collaboration with Dr. Robert Diaz, Virginia Institute of Marine Science).
  • Development of spatially-explicit simulation models to predict the impacts of changes in water quality (nutrient dynamics, eutrophication, and hypoxia) on fish growth, survival, and distribution. Linking water quality models (WQMs) with individual-based models (IBMs). (Collaborative research with Dr. Dominic Di Toro, University of Delaware, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Dr. Jim Rice, North Carolina State University and Dr. Kenny Rose, Louisiana State University).
  • Investigations of growth (prey) limitation of juvenile plaice in inshore nursery areas in the Irish Sea, west coast of Scotland, and North Sea. Using laboratory-derived relationships between RNA:DNA and growth rate of young plaice to assess biotic and abiotic factors controlling the spatial and temporal dynamics of abundance, growth, and production in the field. (Collaboration with Dr. Richard Nash, Institute of Marine Research, Norway; and Drs. Robert Batty and Michael Burrows, Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, Scotland).
  • Assessment of the functional role of mesohaline and oligohaline tidal marsh systems as essential fish habitat for young estuary-dependent fishes. Comparison of densities, growth rates (via RNA:DNA), feeding habitats, and production of young weakfish and other sciaenid fishes between the tidal creek systems fringing Delaware Bay and Delaware Bay proper, on both area specific and total area bases. (Partnership with the NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve System, Delaware Reserve).
  • Comparisons of habitat-specific growth (via RNA:DNA) and productivity of young Atlantic menhaden and striped bass in Chesapeake and Delaware Bay nursery grounds. Development of relationships between estimated productivity and environmental parameters to contrast the relative production potential of different habitats within and between estuaries. (Collaboration with Dr. Thomas Miller, University of Maryland, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory).
  • Identification of patterns in timing and abundance of influx of offshore-spawned ichthyoplankton (particularly larval Atlantic menhaden, Atlantic croaker, and glass eel stage American eel) into Delaware and Chesapeake Bays. Shore-based and shipboard ichthyoplankton sampling. Determination of potentially different physical mechanisms that influence ingress into these estuaries and evaluation of factors causing recruitment variability. [Website] (Collaboration with Drs. Elizabeth North and Ed Houde, University of Maryland, Horn Point Laboratory (EWN) and Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (EDH); and Dr. John Olney, Virginia Institute of Marine Science). 

Research Group

Left to Right: Tim Targett, Damian Brady, Ben Ciotti, Brian Boutin, Mike Rhode, and Danielle Tuzzolino
Damian C. Brady. E-mail. Ph.D. Student. (B.S., Marine Biology, Roger Williams University, 2000). Research interests: Behavioral ecology of juvenile estuary-dependent fishes; experimental and modeling approaches to studying the role of abiotic factors in habitat selection.
Benjamin J. Ciotti. E-mail. Ph.D. Student. (B.S. (1st Class Honours), Life Sciences with a European Language (Marine Biology and French), University of Liverpool, England, 2002). Research interests: Patterns, causes and consequences of spatial and temporal variability in growth of fish in juvenile habitats: comparison of young plaice (UK) and striped bass (USA).
Brian P. Boutin. E-mail. Ph.D. Student. (B.S., Marine Biology, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2003). Research interests: Functional role of fringing tidal creek systems vs. the estuary mainstem as essential fish habitat for young estuary-dependent fishes: Delaware Bay.
Danielle M. Tuzzolino. E-mail. M.S. Student. (B.S., University of Delaware, Biological Sciences, 2004). Research interests: Impacts of diel-cycling hypoxia on prey abundance, movement patterns and feeding of juvenile fishes in estuarine nursery grounds.
Michael P. Rhode. E-mail. M.S. Student (B.S., Biology, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2000). Research Interests: Dynamics of ingress of larval and juvenile fishes through coastal inlets: Roosevelt and Indian River Inlets, Delaware.
  Margaret H. Miller. E-mail. M.S. Student (B.S., Biological Sciences, Cornell University, 2005). Research Interests: Fish community dynamics in relation to hypoxia in estuarine nursery grounds: movements of predators and prey.
  Edward A. Hale. E-mail. M.S. Student (B.S., Marine Science, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, 2007). Research Interests: Larval fish transport and ingress from the coastal ocean into Delaware and Chesapeake Bays.
  Catherine A. House. E-mail. Research Technician (B.A., Marine Biology, College of Charleston, 2006). Research Interests: Biology of estuary-dependent fishes: ecology, physiology and behavior of larvae and juveniles.
  Dr. Paul A. Grecay. E-mail. Professor. Department of Biological Sciences, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD. Adjunct Professor, Marine Biosciences Program, University of Delaware, College of Marine & Earth Studies. Research Interests: Ichthyology and marine ecology.

Teaching

Ichthyology; Topics in Fish Biology; Physiology of Marine Organisms

Selected Publications

Stierhoff KL, RM Tyler and TE Targett. 2009. Hypoxia tolerance of juvenile weakfish (Cynoscion regalis): laboratory assessment of growth and behavioral avoidance responses. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol In press

Breitburg DL (with TE Targett and 16 coauthors). 2009. Nutrient enrichment and fisheries exploitation: interactive effects on estuarine living resources and their management. Hydrobiologia 629:31-47

Stierhoff KL, TE Targett and JH Power. 2009. Hypoxia-induced growth limitation of juvenile fishes in an estuarine nursery: assessment of small-scale temporal dynamics using RNA:DNA. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 66:1033-1047 

Brady DC, TE Targett and DM Tuzzolino. 2009. Behavioral responses of juvenile weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) to diel-cycling hypoxia: swimming speed, angular correlation, expected displacement, and effects of hypoxia acclimation. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 66:415-424

Tyler RM, DC Brady and TE Targett. 2009. Temporal and spatial dynamics of diel-cycling hypoxia in estuarine tributaries. Estuaries & Coasts 32:123-145

Nye, JA, TE Targett and TE Helser. 2008. Reproductive characteristics of weakfish in Delaware Bay: implications for management. N Am J Fish Mgmt 27:1-11

Tyler RM and TE Targett. 2007. Juvenile weakfish Cynoscion regalis distribution in relation to diel-cycling dissolved oxygen in an estuarine tributary. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 333:257-269

Stierhoff KL, TE Targett and KL Miller. 2006. Ecophysiological responses of juvenile summer and winter flounder to hypoxia: experimental and modeling analyses of effects on estuarine nursery quality. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 325:255-266

Epifanio CE, AI Dittel, RA Rodriguez and TE Targett. 2003. The role of macroalgal beds as nursery habitat for juvenile blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus. J Shellf Res 22:881-886

Stierhoff KL, TE Targett and PA Grecay. 2003. Hypoxia tolerance of the mummichog: the role of access to the water surface. J Fish Biol 63:580-592

Lankford, TE Jr and TE Targett. 2001. Physiological performance of young-of-the-year Atlantic croakers from different Atlantic coast estuaries: implications for stock structure. Trans Amer Fish Soc 130:367-375

Lankford TE Jr and TE Targett. 2001. Low-temperature tolerance of age-0 Atlantic croakers: recruitment implications for U.S. Mid-Atlantic estuaries. Trans Amer Fish Soc 130:236-249

Wyanski DM and TE Targett. 2000. Development of transformation larvae and juveniles of Ctenogobius boleosoma, Ctenogobius shufeldti, and Gobionellus oceanicus (Pisces:Gobiidae) from western North Atlantic estuaries, with notes on early life history. Bull Mar Sci 67:709-728

Paperno R, TE Targett and PA Grecay. 2000. Spatial and temporal variation in recent growth, overall growth, and mortality of juvenile weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) in Delaware Bay. Estuaries 23:10-20

Lankford TE Jr, TE Targett and PM Gaffney. 1999. Mitochondrial DNA analysis of population structure in the Atlantic croaker, Micropogonias undulatus (Perciformes: Sciaenidae). Fish Bull US 97:884-890

Thorrold SR, CM Jones, PK Swart and TE Targett. 1998. Accurate classification of juvenile weakfish Cynoscion regalis to estuarine nursery areas based on chemical signatures in otoliths. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 173:253-265

Paperno R, TE Targett and PA Grecay. 1997. Daily growth increments in otoliths of juvenile weakfish, Cynoscion regalis: experimental assessment of changes in increment width with changes in feeding rate, growth rate, and condition factor.  Fish Bull US 95:521-529

Lankford TE Jr and TE Targett. 1997. Selective predation by juvenile weakfish: post-consumptive constraints on energy maximization and growth. Ecology 78:1049-1061

Grecay PA and TE Targett. 1996. Spatial patterns in and feeding of juvenile weakfish in Delaware Bay.  Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 125:803-808

Former Students

Professional Activities

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
Commissioner
Governor's Appointee representing Delaware
1987 - present

American Fisheries Society
Campus Network Representative
1997 - present

Other Resources



  • College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment  •   111 Robinson Hall  •   Newark, DE 19716  •   USA
    Phone: 302-831-2841  •   E-mail: ceoe-info@udel.edu