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Alexander Zale, PhD

Unit Leader - Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit

Dr. Zale’s primary research focus is applied aquatic ecology directed at native fish assemblage restoration, a prominent and pressing ecological and societal issue in Rocky Mountain and Great Plains ecosystems as well as in similar ecosystems worldwide. Other areas of emphasis include thermal biology, especially the generation of empirical data in both the laboratory and field needed to assess the effects of climate change, movement ecology, and recreational fishery management. However, Dr. Zale’s overarching research goal is to answer the applied aquatic research questions that the Unit’s State and Federal Cooperators need to have answered to achieve their missions. He has therefore conducted research on a broad range of topics. His teaching focuses on preparing his students for agency positions. He also teaches a graduate course entitled Human Dimensions of Fish and Wildlife Management.

Dr. Zale began his career with the Cooperative Research Units program in 1975 as an undergraduate technician with the Massachusetts Unit before getting graduate degrees at the Virginia and Florida units. After a postdoc with the Florida Unit, he became the Assistant Unit Leader/Fish at the Oklahoma Unit in 1985 and transferred to the Montana Fishery Unit in 1994, where he subsequently became Unit Leader in 2002.