Fisheries Biologist

M.S. Fisheries and Aquatic Science

Boise, Idaho

Nicole Farless is a stream ecologist with experience in flow regime analysis, aquatic habitat surveys, fish community sampling, and two-dimensional hydraulic modeling. Nicole has years of experience studying the impacts of hydropeaking on downstream communities and habitat. Her work focuses on mitigating the impacts to fish and macroinvertebrate communities through improving available habitat, water quality, sediment regime, and flow connectivity. She has experience measuring discharge, bathymetry, and water surface elevation using global positioning system (GPS) equipment and geographic information systems (GIS) to plot and analyze the data. She also has experience conducting gravel augmentations to improve stream habitat and tracking substrate movement using passive integrative transponder (PIT) tags. Nicole received her M.S. in Fisheries and Aquatic Science from Oklahoma State University. For her thesis, she determined the thermal tolerance of fishes occupying spring-fed and non-spring fed stream systems and developed flow ecology relationships for fish species associated with various trophic and reproductive guilds.

Selected Publications and Reports

Starnes V., N. Farless, R. O’Hearn. 2023. Niangua River System Water Quality Alterations. Missouri Department of Conservation. Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Project F-55-R-5; F21AF02257.

Farless N. and V. Starnes. 2022. Niangua River System Flow Fluctuations. Missouri Department of Conservation. Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Project F-55-R-5; F21AF02257.

Farless N. and B. Landwer. 2020. Lower Osage River Habitat and Fish Community Evaluation. Missouri Department of Conservation. Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Project; F11AF00170.

Farless N., E. Baebler, B. Landwer, D. Lobb. 2018. Evaluation of Habitat for Mussels and Their Fish Hosts in the Lower Osage River. Missouri Department of Conservation. Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Project; F11AC01144.

Worthington T., A. Echelle, J. Perkin, R. Mollenhauer, N. Farless, J. Dyer, and S. Brewer. 2018. The Emblematic Minnows of the North American Great Plains: A Synthesis of Threats and Conservation Opportunities. Fish and Fisheries 19:271–307.

Farless N., and S. Brewer. 2017. Thermal Tolerances of Fishes Occupying Groundwater and Surface-Water Dominated Streams. Freshwater Science 36:866–876.

Worthington T., S. Brewer, N. Farless, T. Grabowski, M. Gregory. 2014. Interacting Effects of Discharge and Channel Morphology on Transport of Semibuoyant Fish Eggs in Large, Altered River Systems. PLoS ONE 9:1–9.

Worthington T., S. Brewer, N. Farless. 2013. Spatial and Temporal Variation in Efficiency of the Moore Egg Collector. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 33:1113–1118.

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