Stephen D McCormick
Steve McCormick is a Scientist Emeritus at the Conte Anadromous Fish Research Laboratory in Turners Falls, MA.
Steve’s work has centered on the environmental and hormonal control of water and salt balance, development, growth and reproduction of anadromous fishes, including salmon, trout, shad, alewife, sturgeon and lamprey. This research has addressed important environmental issues including acidification, impacts of dams, endocrine disruptors and climate change, especially the impacts of temperature and salinity. The results of this work have been published in more than 190 papers and book chapters. Steve has been Chair of the Division of Comparative Endocrinology and member of the Executive Board of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology, and President and Current Member of the Executive Committee of the Physiology Section of the American Fisheries Society (AFS). He has been a visiting scientist at the University of Goteborg (1988) and Ocean Research Institute of the University of Tokyo (1990), James Chair Visiting Professor at St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada (1999) and Visiting Scholar at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan (2002). In 2014 he received the Excellence in Fish Physiology Award for lifetime achievement from the Physiology Section of AFS. He has been an adjunct Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst since 1990 and Associate Editor of General and Comparative Endocrinology since 1996.
Professional Experience
1990-present Research Physiologist & Physiology Section Leader, Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, USGS, Turners Falls, MA.
2016-present Senior Scientist, USGS
1998-1999 Acting Director, Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, USGS, Biological Resources Division, Turners Falls, MA.
1989-1990 Research Fellow, Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo (with Professor Tetsuya Hirano, 4 months).
1986-1989 Postdoctoral Fellow (NIH) with Professor Howard A. Bern in the Department of Zoology, Univ. of California, Berkeley.
1983-1986 Postdoctoral Fellow, with Dr. Richard L. Saunders, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, St. Andrews Biological Station, New Brunswick, Canada.
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., 1983, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanography Joint Program in Oceanography, Cambridge and Woods Hole, MA USA
Affiliations and Memberships*
1990-present, Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
1992-present, Adjunct Professor, Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
1993 Member, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Science and Products
Effects of elevated temperature on osmoregulation and stress responses in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) smolts in freshwater and seawater
Reduced swimming performance repeatedly evolves upon loss of migration in landlocked populations of Alewife
Reduced thermal tolerance during salinity acclimation in brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) can be rescued by prior treatment with cortisol
Proximate composition, lipid utilization and validation of a non‐lethal method to determine lipid content in migrating American shad Alosa sapidissima
Sensitivity of Na+/K+-ATPase isoforms to acid and aluminum explains differential effects on Atlantic salmon osmoregulation in fresh water and seawater
A comparative evaluation of crowding stress on muscle HSP90 and myostatin expression in salmonids
Effects of ocean acidification on salinity tolerance and seawater growth of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts
Downstream migration and multiple dam passage by Atlantic Salmon smolts
Conservation endocrinology
Cambrian origin of the CYP27C1-mediated vitamin A1-to-A2 switch, a key mechanism of vertebrate sensory plasticity
Exogenous thyroid hormones regulate the activity of citrate synthase and cytochrome c oxidase in warm- but not cold-acclimated lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis)
Upper thermal limits of growth in brook trout and their relationship to stress physiology
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
Effects of elevated temperature on osmoregulation and stress responses in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) smolts in freshwater and seawater
Reduced swimming performance repeatedly evolves upon loss of migration in landlocked populations of Alewife
Reduced thermal tolerance during salinity acclimation in brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) can be rescued by prior treatment with cortisol
Proximate composition, lipid utilization and validation of a non‐lethal method to determine lipid content in migrating American shad Alosa sapidissima
Sensitivity of Na+/K+-ATPase isoforms to acid and aluminum explains differential effects on Atlantic salmon osmoregulation in fresh water and seawater
A comparative evaluation of crowding stress on muscle HSP90 and myostatin expression in salmonids
Effects of ocean acidification on salinity tolerance and seawater growth of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts
Downstream migration and multiple dam passage by Atlantic Salmon smolts
Conservation endocrinology
Cambrian origin of the CYP27C1-mediated vitamin A1-to-A2 switch, a key mechanism of vertebrate sensory plasticity
Exogenous thyroid hormones regulate the activity of citrate synthase and cytochrome c oxidase in warm- but not cold-acclimated lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis)
Upper thermal limits of growth in brook trout and their relationship to stress physiology
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government