PhD

Cooperative Professor (retired)

Fisheries and Wildlife

Education

• Ph.D., 1977 University of Maine

Research

• Stream ecology and management.

Research Summary

• Rabeni’s research addresses questions useful to the conservation or restoration of the biological integrity of aquatic systems — primarily streams — to enhance their recreational and ecological benefits. His focus is on invertebrates and fishes as endpoints and integrators of ecological conditions. Studies examine the relation of fish distribution and abundance to local and landscape features. Rabeni is delineating those key environmental factors influencing the biota, such as siltation, dissolved oxygen, and extreme temperatures, and is designing cost effective mitigation strategies. He is using an Ozark stream to examine habitat and trophic dynamic elements of crayfish and other invertebrates important to sportfish especially smallmouth bass. The accumulating knowledge is being put to use in ecologically-based biological monitoring and assessment programs.

Selected Publications

• Brewer, S. K. D. Papoulias, and C. F. Rabeni. Comparing histology and gonadosomatic index for determining spawning condition of small-bodied riverine fishes. Ecology of freshwater fishes. (In Press)
• Brewer, S.K., C.F. Rabeni, S.P Sowa and G. Annis. 2007.
  Natural-occurring landscape and in-channel factors affecting the distribution and relative abundance of riverine smallmouth bass in Missouri. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. 27:326-341.
• Roberts, N. M., C.F. Rabeni, and J. S. Stanovick. 2007.
  Distinguishing Centrarchidae genera using lateral-line scales. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. 27:215-219.
• Whitledge, G. W., C. F. Rabeni, G. Annis and S. P. Sowa. 2006.
  Riparian shading and groundwater enhance growth potential for smallmouth bass in Ozark streams. Ecological Applications. 16:1461-1473.
• Brewer, S. K., C. F. Rabeni and D. C. Heimann. 2006.
  The importance of day versus night fish sampling for instream flow determination. Proceedings, Annual Conference of Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 59:336-347.
• Brewer, S. K. D. Papoulias, and C. F. Rabeni. 2006.
  Habitat selection by fishes in a prairie river: A focus on reproductive fitness. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 135:763-778.
• Vokoun, J. C. and C. F. Rabeni. 2006.
  Summer diel activity and movement paths of flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) in two Missouri streams. American Midland Naturalist. 155:113-122.
• Michaletz, P. H., K. E. Doisy and C. F. Rabeni. 2005.
  Influences of productivity, vegetation, and fish macroinvertebrate abundance and size in Midwestern USA impoundments. Hydrobiologia 543:147-157.
• Vokoun, J. C. and C. F. Rabeni. 2005.
  Home range and space use patterns of flathead catfish during the summer-fall period in two Missouri streams. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 134:509-517.
• Vokoun, J. C. and C. F. Rabeni. 2005.
  Variation in annual movement cycle of flathead catfish within and between two Missouri watersheds. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 25:563-572.
• Rabeni, C.F. and L. D. Zweig. 2005.
  Stream invertebrate community functional responses to deposited sediment. Aquatic Sciences 67:395-402.