Rate My Professor Rusty Wright

Russell A. (Rusty) Wright is an Extension Specialist and Associate Professor in the School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences at Auburn University, a position he has held since 2002 within the College of Agriculture. He earned a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1993, an M.S. in Zoology from North Carolina State University in 1989, and a B.A. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Asheville in 1983. In his role, Wright manages statewide extension programs in aquatic resources, with specialty areas including recreational fisheries, pond management, fisheries-related economic development and tourism, and aquatic conservation. Based at 313 Swingle Hall, he provides support to pond owners, anglers, and stakeholders across Alabama through workshops, videos, and resources on topics such as building fish attractors and managing recreational fish ponds.

Wright's research focuses on fisheries ecology and limnology, including bioenergetics of fishes, recruitment mechanisms, ecosystem and community dynamics, simulation and statistical modeling, food web dynamics, and pond management. His projects examine aquatic communities in small impoundments, larger reservoirs, estuaries, the Mobile Tensaw Delta, state fishing lakes, and private ponds throughout Alabama. He served as Co-Principal Investigator on a Year One Block Grant project measuring direct and indirect impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on coastal low salinity fauna through the Alabama Marine Environmental Science Consortium. Key publications include 'Evaluating fish passage and tailrace space use at a low-use low-head lock and dam' (Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 2022, H. Hershey, D.R. DeVries et al.); 'Thermal performance of the electron transport system Complex III in seven Alabama fishes' (Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological and Integrative Physiology, 2023, L.M. Horne, D.R. DeVries et al.); 'Using fish hard-part microchemistry and genetics to quantify population impacts of low-use lock-and-dam structures on the Alabama River' (Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 2023, G.J. Kratina, D.R. DeVries et al.); 'Change in Piscivore Growth Potential after the Introduction of a Nonnative Prey Fish: a Bioenergetics Analysis' (Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 2021, R.J. Bart, D.R. DeVries); and 'Peaking hydropower and fish assemblages: an example from the Tallapoosa River, AL' (River Research and Applications, 2023, E.B. Lamb, D.R. DeVries). Wright's extension and research efforts enhance recreational fisheries management and conservation in Alabama.