Mark Scott

Educational Background

Ph.D. Ecology
University of Georgia 2001

M.S. Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences
Virginia Tech 1994

B.S. Biology
Wofford College 1987

Courses Taught

WFB4350/6350 - Aquatic Habitat Management (Fall Semester)

Profile

I lead the SCDNR Freshwater Fisheries Statewide Research group out of the Clemson Field Office.

Professional Affiliations & Service
• Member: American Fisheries Society, Southeastern Fishes Council
• Southeastern Aquatic Resources Partnership
-Science and Data Committee
-Southeast Aquatic Connectivity Assessment Program Workgroup
• Chair, Freshwater Fish Taxa Committee, SC State Wildlife Action Plan
• South Carolina Environmental Flows Biostandards Workgroup
• South Carolina Environmental Awareness Award Selection Committee
• 2019 Conservationist of the Year, South Carolina Chapter of the American Fisheries Society

Research Interests

Dr. Scott has been studying freshwater wetlands, streams, rivers, and lakes since 1988, and has broad experience in aquatic ecology throughout the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. He currently administers statewide projects, responsible for budgets, supervising staff, and overseeing technical operations. Projects generally involve research and monitoring focused on defining aquatic habitats necessary to sustain native species, particularly endemic southeastern fishes, mussels, and crayfishes. He provides his expertise to the study of watershed and landscape influences on freshwater ecosystems, with emphasis on gradient studies of the effects of anthropogenic perturbations on aquatic habitats and biological community structure. Through an adjunct professor position, he has collaborated with Clemson University faculty and students on a range of projects and is frequently invited for lectures, seminars, and symposia. He teaches Aquatic Habitat Management each fall semester. Research projects have typically addressed the goals of quantifying landscape and watershed-scale drivers of ecological patterns and processes in freshwaters, with those data used to develop spatially-explicit models to forecast aquatic ecosystem response to environmental change. Most recently, he has overseen implementation of a spatial framework in GIS to support aquatic conservation planning and resource decisions from the mountains to the coast.

Publications

Grunwald, A.P., A.H. Hagan, K. Barrett, and M.C. Scott. 2023. Reestablishment best practices for Hymenocallis coronaria: A charismatic flowering macrophyte and indicator species for fall line stream restoration in the southeastern U.S.A. Restoration Ecology e13999. DOI: 10.1111/rec.13999

Stoczynski, L., M.C. Scott, L. Bower, B. Peoples. 2023. Effects of environment and metacommunity delineation on multiple dimensions of stream fish beta diversity. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, section Biogeography and Macroecology vol. 11. DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1077994

Sammons, S.M., L.G. Dorsey, C.S. Loftis, P. Chrisman. M. Scott, J. Hammonds, M. Jolley, H. Hatcher, J. Odenkirk, J. Damer, M. Lewis, and E. Peatman. 2023. Alabama Bass alter reservoir black bass species assemblages when introduced outside their native range. North American J. Fisheries Management. DOI:10.1002/nafm.10876

Herigan, G.M., D.P. Crane, M.C. Scott. 2023. Association of an endemic leuciscid, the Sandhills Chub (Semotilus lumbee), with microhabitat features and watershed-level habitat characteristics. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. DOI:10.1002/tafs.10401

Jennings, Cecil A., Elizabeth P. Anderson, Arthur C. Benke, Tom J. Kwak, Mark C. Scott,
Leonard A. Smock. 2023. Atlantic Coast Rivers of the Southeastern United States. Pp.
68-128 in M.D. Delong, T.D. Jardine, A.C. Benke, C.E. Cushing (eds.) Rivers of North
America, 2nd Edition. Academic Press, 1106 pp. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-818847-
7.00024-0

Bower, L.M., B.K. Peoples, M. Eddy, M.C. Scott. 2022. Quantifying flow–ecology relationships across flow regime class and ecoregions in South Carolina. Science of the Total Environment 802, 149721. DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149721

Denison, CD, BK Peoples, MC Scott, and KM Kubach. 2021. Integrating regional frameworks and local variability for riverine bioassessment. Environmental Management 68, 126-145. DOI:10.1007/s00267-021-01479-6

Peoples, B, E. Judson, T. Darden, D. Farrae, K. Kubach, J. Leitner, M. Scott. 2021. Modeling distribution of endemic Bartram’s Bass: disturbance and proximity to invasion source increase hybridization with invasive Alabama Bass. N. American J. Fisheries Management DOI:10.1002/nafm.10637

Petersen, K., M. Freeman, J. Kirsch, W. McLarney, M. Scott, and S. Wenger. 2021. Mixed evidence for biotic homogenization of Southern Appalachian fish communities. Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences. DOI:10.1139/cjfas-2020-0372

Denison, CD, MC Scott, KM Kubach, and BK Peoples. 2021. Incorporating network connectivity into stream classification frameworks. Environmental Management 67:291-307. DOI:10.1007/s00267-020-01413-2

Herigan, G.M., D.P. Crane, M.C. Scott, F.C. Rohde, D.W. Smith. 2021. Comparison of two fish sampling techniques for low-conductivity, lowland headwater streams. N. American J. Fisheries Management DOI:10.1002/nafm.10702

Links