Dominic Chaloner Professor of the Practice

Research Interests:

There are two elements to my research: Pacific salmon and teaching. The focus of the salmon research is understanding the ecological consequences of migrating salmon, especially when they spawn in Southeast Alaska streams and Upper Great Lakes tributaries. Salmon spawners provide both a resource subsidy, through nutrients in their carcasses and eggs, but are also ecosystem engineers, through disturbance imparted during nest building. Most recently, I’ve been interested in salmon as biotransporters of contaminants, including persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals. Overall, this research has important implications for both fisheries and contaminant management. The focus of my teaching research is how intellectual virtues can be developed in science students through the courses they take as undergraduates. Intellectual virtues are character dispositions that contribute to human flourishing or well-being, and include such things as intellectual curiosity, humility, honesty, and open-mindedness. Arguably, the development of intellectual virtues results in not only well-educated and successful students but also productive and ethical scientists.

Biography:

• Professor of the Practice, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, IN 2022 - Present
• Dockweiler Award for Undergraduate Advising 2021
• Director of Undergraduate Studies, Environmental Sciences, University of Notre Dame, IN 2017 - Present
• Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, IN 2017 - 2022
• Research Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, IN 2013 - 2017
• Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, IN 2005-  2013
• Post-Doctoral Research Associate, University of Notre Dame, IN 2000 - 2004
• Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Michigan State University, MI 1997 - 2000
• Post-Doctoral Research Associate, University College London, University of London, UK 1995 - 1996
• Ph.D. Zoology, University College London (University of London), UK 1995
• B.S. (Hons.) Zoology, University College London (University of London), UK 1991

Recent Papers:

• Lapsley, D.K., and D.T. Chaloner. 2020. Post-Truth and Science Identity: A Virtue-Based Approach to Science Education. Educational Psychology 55:132-143.
• Currier, C.M., D.T. Chaloner, J. Ruegg, S.D. Tiegs, D.V. D'Amore, and G.A. Lamberti. 2020. Beyond nitrogen and phosphorus subsidies: Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) as potential vectors of micronutrients. Aquatic Sciences: 82.
• Gerig, B.S., D.T. Chaloner, S.A. Cullen, R. Greil, K. Kapucinski, A.H. Moerke, and G.A. Lamberti. 2019. Trophic ecology of salmonine predators in Northern Lake Huron with emphasis on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Journal of Great Lakes Research 45:160-166.
• Gerig, B.S., D.T. Chaloner, D.J. Janetski, A.H. Moerke, R.R. Rediske, J.P. O’Keefe, D.A. de Alwis Pitts, and G.A. Lamberti. 2018. Context-dependent controls on Pacific salmon-mediated contaminant biotransport to tributaries of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Journal of Applied Ecology 55:1846-1859.
• Gerig, B.S., D.N. Weber, D.T. Chaloner, L. McGill, and G.A. Lamberti. 2018. Interactive effects of introduced Pacific salmon and brown trout on native brook trout: an experimental and modeling approach. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 75:538-548.
• McGill, L., Gerig, B.S., D.T. Chaloner, and G.A. Lamberti. 2017. An ecosystem model for evaluating the effects of introduced Pacific salmon on contaminant burdens of stream-resident fish. Ecosystem Modelling 355:39-48.
• Gerig, B.S., D.T. Chaloner, D.J. Janetski, R.A. Rediske, J.P. O’Keefe, A.H. Moerke, and G.A. Lamberti. 2016. Pacific salmon are a source of persistent organic pollutants for stream-resident fish within Great Lakes tributaries. Environmental Science and Technology 50:554-563.
• Janetski, D.J., D.T. Chaloner, A.H. Moerke, P. Levi, E.M. Kratschmer, and G.A. Lamberti. 2014. Pacific salmon introduced to the Great Lakes have modified ecological effects on stream ecosystems. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 71:502-513.
• Janetski, D.J., D.T. Chaloner, A.H. Moerke, R.R. Rediske, J.P. O’Keefe and G.A. Lamberti. 2012. Resident fishes display elevated organic pollutants in salmon spawning streams of the Great Lakes. Environmental Science and Technology 46:8035-8043.
• Rüegg, J., D.T. Chaloner, P. Levi, S.D. Tiegs, J.L. Tank, and G.A. Lamberti. 2012. Environmental variability and the ecological effects of spawning Pacific salmon on stream biofilm. Freshwater Biology 57:129-142.
• Chaloner, D.T., and R.S. Wotton. 2011. Overview: the links that bind aquatic ecosystems. Journal of North American Benthological Society 30:751-761.
• Janetski, D.J, D.T. Chaloner, S.D. Tiegs, and G.A. Lamberti. 2009. Pacific salmon effects on stream ecosystems: a quantitative synthesis. Oecologia 159:583-595.
• Tiegs, S.D., D.T. Chaloner, P. Levi, J. Rüegg, and G.A. Lamberti. 2008. Timber harvest transforms ecological roles of salmon in southeast Alaska rain forest streams. Ecological Applications 18:4-11.
• Chaloner, D.T., G.A. Lamberti, A.D. Cak, N.L. Blair, and R.T. Edwards. 2007. Inter-annual variation in the water chemistry and epilithon responses to Pacific salmon spawners in an Alaskan stream. Freshwater Biology 52:478-490.