The fundamental focus of discovery in the Frimpong Lab is how fish species’ traits interact with environmental and habitat factors to determine local and landscape-wide distribution and abundances. Pursuing this research focus leads to observational and experimental field and laboratory studies of the ecology of particular fish species and entire fish communities (e.g., bluehead chubs and their nest associates in tributaries of the New, Roanoke, and James River basins), and systematic documentation and synthesis of traits and distributions of freshwater fishes. He tackles ecological hypotheses at varying spatial and temporal scales, as required by the broad-ranging societal problems that ecology contributes to solving. Dr. Frimpong’s training is grounded in multiple basic and applied disciplines and he enjoys confronting research problems that draw on at least one of these disciplines and necessitates interdisciplinary approaches and local, national, and international collaborations.
He pursues fundamental ecological research to further a complementary applied research and teaching program in biological assessment, aquatic conservation and resource management, sustainable aquaculture development, and natural resources policy analysis. The diversity of backgrounds and research foci among the Frimpong Lab students reflect the range of contemporary environmental and natural resources management issues the lab is researching and engaged in with decision makers. These issues include land uses and landscape transformations, aquatic habitat degradation, resource overexploitation, nonnative species transplantations, and climate change. Dr. Frimpong employs quantitative methods (GIS, statistics, various economic analysis tools) extensively in research and teaching. The Frimpong Lab espouses the philosophy that data are expensive and precious, and therefore should be diligently preserved and shared, and that rigorous quantitative analyses of data undergird defensible science, management, and policy.
News
AWARDS AND HONORS
Institute of International Education, Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow 2014-2015
Biographee Marquis Who’s Who in America 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
CNRE Curriculum Club Teaching Excellence Award for Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife (2009)
CNRE Curriculum Club Teaching Excellence Award for Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife (2007)
VT-AFS Outstanding Fisheries Faculty (2009)
VT-AFS Outstanding Fisheries Faculty (2008)
VT-AFS Outstanding Fisheries Faculty (2007)
Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Affiliations:
PhD, Interfaces of Global Change IGEP
http://www.globalchange.vt.edu/igc/
PhD, Geospatial and Environmental Analysis
http://geography.vt.edu/department/degrees.html
Graduate Certificate, Quantitative Resource Assessment http://fishwild.vt.edu/documents/QRA_071610.pdf
PUBLICATIONS
[#Corresponding author; *grad or **undergrad under my supervision; For article copy, please download PDF from ResearchGate]
IN PRESS
Howeth#, J. G., C. A. Gantz, P. L. Angermeier, E. A. Frimpong, M. H. Hoff, R. P. Keller, N. E. Mandrak, M. P. Marchetti, J. D. Olden, C. M. Romagosa, and D. M. Lodge. In press. Predicting invasiveness of species in trade: climate match, trophic guild, and fecundity influence invasive success of nonnative freshwater fishes. Diversity and Distributions DOI…
Mogollon#, B., A. M. Villamagna, E. A. Frimpong, and P. Angermeier. In press. Mapping technological and biophysical capacities of watersheds to regulate floods. Ecological Indicators DOI…
Olinger**, C. T, B. K. Peoples*#, and E. A. Frimpong. In press. Reproductive life-history of Pseudoxiphophorus bimaculata (Poeciliidae) in the Honduran interior highlands: trait variation along an elevational gradient. Neotropical Ichthyology DOI:
2015
Peoples* B. K., S. P. Floyd*, Jr., and E. A. Frimpong#. 2015. Nesting microhabitat comparison of central stoneroller and bluehead chub: Potential inference for host-switching by nest associates. Journal of Freshwater Ecology DOI: 10.1080/02705060.2015.1091390.
Peoples* B. K., L. Blanc, and E. A. Frimpong#. 2015. Lotic cyprinid communities can be structured as nest webs and predicted by the stress-gradient hypothesis. Journal of Animal Ecology 84:1666-1677.
Huang* J., and E. A. Frimpong#. 2015. Using historical atlas data to develop high-resolution distribution models of freshwater fishes. PLOS One 10(6):e0129995.
Ansah* Y. B., and E. A. Frimpong#. 2015. Commercial floating feeds for pond culture of tilapia in Ghana. International AquaFeed 18(4):32-35.
Ansah* Y. B., and E. A. Frimpong#. 2015. Using model-based inference to select a predictive growth curve for farmed tilapia. North American Journal of Aquaculture 77(3):281-288.
Ansah* Y. B., and E. A. Frimpong#. 2015. Impacts of the adoption of BMPs on social welfare: A case study of commercial floating feeds for pond culture of tilapia in Ghana. Cogent Food and Agriculture 1:1048579.
Swartwout**, M. C., F. Keating, and E. A. Frimpong#. 2015. A survey of macroinvertebrates colonizing bluehead chub nests in a Virginia stream. Journal of Freshwater Ecology DOI:10.1080/02705060.2015.1036943.
Bolton**, C., B. K. Peoples*#, and E. A. Frimpong. 2015. Recognizing gape limitation and interannual variability in bluehead nesting microhabitat use in a small Virginia stream. Journal of Freshwater Ecology 30(4):503-511.
McManamay#, R. A., and E. A. Frimpong. 2015. Hydrologic filtering of fish life history traits across the US and implications for streamflow alteration. Ecological Applications 25(1):243-263.
McManamay#, R. A., M. S. Bevelhimer, and E. A. Frimpong. 2015. Associations among hydrologic classifications and fish traits to support environmental flow standards. Ecohydrology 8(3):460-479.
2014
Ansah*, Y. B., E. A. Frimpong#, and E. M. Hallerman. 2014. Genetically-improved tilapia strains in Africa: potential benefits and negative impacts. Sustainability 6:3697-3721.
Frimpong#, E. A., Y. B. Ansah*, S. Amisah, D. Adjei-Boateng, N. Agbo, and H. Egna. 2014. Effects of two environmental best management practices on pond water and effluent quality and growth of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. Sustainability 6:652-675.
Agbo#, N. W., S. Amisah, E. Tettey, and E. A. Frimpong. 2014. Effects of dietary protein levels on the growth performance of clarotid catfish, Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus, fingerlings. Annals of Biological Research 5(4):17-22.
Pritt*, J. J., and E. A. Frimpong#. 2014. The effect of sampling intensity on observed rarity and stream fish community assessment metrics. Ecological Indicators 39:169-178.
Peoples*#, B. K., R. A. McManamay, D. J. Orth, and E. A. Frimpong. 2014. Nesting habitat use by river chubs in a hydrologically variable Appalachian tailwater. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 23(2):283-293.
2013
Ansah*, Y. B., E. A. Frimpong#, and S. Amisah. 2013. Characterization of potential pond effluents and physicochemical and microbial assessment of effluent-receiving streams in central Ghana. African Journal of Aquatic Science 38(2):185-192.
Peoples*, B. K., and E. A. Frimpong#. 2013. Evidence of mutual benefits of nest association among freshwater cyprinids and implications for conservation. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 23(6):911-923.
Stich*, D. S., V. Dicenzo, E. A. Frimpong, Y. Jiao, and B. R. Murphy. 2013. Growth and population size of grass carp incrementally stocked for hydrilla control. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 33:14-25.
2012
Frimpong#, E. A., and M. Henebry*. 2012. Short-term effects of formalin and ethanol fixation and preservation techniques on weight and size of fish eggs. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 141:1472-1479.
Ansah*, Y. B., E. A. Frimpong#, and S. Amisah. 2012. Biological assessment of aquaculture effects on effluent-receiving streams in Ghana using structural and functional composition of fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages. Environmental Management 50:166-180.
McManamay#, R. A., D. J. Orth, C. A. Dollof, and E. A. Frimpong. 2012. Regional frameworks applied to hydrology: can landscape-based frameworks capture the hydrologic variability? River Research and Applications 28:1325-1339.
Pendleton**, R. M., J. J. Pritt*, B. K. Peoples*, and E. A. Frimpong#. 2012. The strength of Nocomis nest association contributes to patterns of rarity and commonness among New River, Virginia cyprinids. American Midland Naturalist 168:202-217.
Peoples*, B. K., and E. A. Frimpong#. 2012. A snapshot analysis of age distributions of fishes in urban and forested Virginia streams. Urban Ecosystems 15:927-937.
2011
Alexander#, K. A., J. K. Blackburn, and E. A. Frimpong. 2011. Buffalo and Maslow’s hammer. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 9:302-303 + web appendix.
McManamay#, R. A., D. J. Orth, C. A. Dollof, and E. A. Frimpong. 2011. A regional classification of unregulated stream flows: spatial resolution and hierarchical frameworks. River Research and Applications 26:1-26.
Peoples*, B. K., and E. A. Frimpong#. 2011. Among-pass, interregional, and single- versus multiple-season comparisons of detection probabilities of stream fishes.Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 140(1):67-83.
2010
Frimpong#, E. A., and P. L. Angermeier. 2010. Comparative utility of selected frameworks for regionalizing fish-based bioassessments across the United States.Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 139:1872-1895.
Frimpong#, E. A., and P. L. Angermeier. 2010. Trait-based approaches in the analysis of stream fish communities. American Fisheries Society Symposium 73:109-136.
Peoples*, B. K., M. B. Tainer**, and E. A. Frimpong#. 2010. Bluehead chub nesting activity: a potential mechanism of population persistence in degraded stream habitats. Environmental Biology of Fishes 90(4):379-391.
Pritt*, J. J., and E. A. Frimpong#. 2010. Quantitative determination of rarity of freshwater fishes and implications for imperiled-species designations. Conservation Biology 24(5):1249-1258.
2009
Frimpong#, E. A., and P. L. Angermeier. 2009. FishTraits: A database of ecological and life-history traits of freshwater fishes of the United States. Fisheries 34(10):487-495.
Hrodey#, P. J., T. M. Sutton, E. A. Frimpong, and T. P. Simon. 2009. Land-use impacts on watershed health and integrity in Indiana warmwater streams. American Midland Naturalist 161:76-95.
Roberts#, J. H., and E. A. Frimpong. 2009. The extensive and complex landscape of fisheries related journals. Fisheries 34(3):143-144.
Haas#, C. A., E. A. Frimpong, and S. M. Karpanty. 2009. Ecosystems and ecosystem-based management: Introduction to ecosystem properties and processes. Chapter 6 in K. Moore, editor. Innovating for Agriculture and Natural Resources Management. SANREM-CRSP, Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny.
2007
Frimpong#, E. A., J. G. Lee, and A. L. Ross-Davis. 2007. Floodplain influence on the cost of riparian buffers and implications for conservation programs. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 62(1):33-39.
2006
Frimpong#, E. A., J. G. Lee, and T. M. Sutton. 2006. Cost effectiveness of vegetative filter strips and in-stream half-logs for ecological restoration. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 42(5):1349-1361.
Frimpong#, E. A., A. L. Ross-Davis, J. G. Lee, and S. R. Broussard. 2006. Biophysical and socioeconomic factors explaining the extent of forest cover on private ownerships in a Midwest (USA) agrarian landscape. Landscape Ecology 21(5):763-776.
Frimpong#, E. A., and S. E. Lochmann. 2006. An evaluation of the effect of treatments for pond water reuse on zooplankton populations. North American Journal of Aquaculture 68(1):103-109.
Sutton#, T.M., R. A. Zeiber, and E. A. Frimpong. 2006. Developing an effective resume or curriculum vitae. Chapter 2 in D. A. Hewitt, W. E. Pine III, and A. V. Zale, editors. An American Fisheries Society guide to fisheries employment, 2nd ed. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland.
2005
Frimpong#, E. A., T. M. Sutton, B. A. Engel, and T. P. Simon. 2005. Spatial-scale effects on relative importance of physical habitat predictors of stream health.Environmental Management 36(6):899-917.
Frimpong#, E. A., T. M. Sutton, K. J. Lim, P. J. Hrodey, B. Engel, T. P. Simon, J. G. Lee, and D. C. Le Master. 2005. Determination of optimal riparian forest buffer dimensions for stream biota–landscape association models using multimetric and multivariate responses. Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences 62(1):1-6.
Frimpong, E. A., and S. E. Lochmann#. 2005. Mortality of fish larvae exposed to varying concentrations of cyclopoid copepods. North American Journal of Aquaculture67(1):66-71.
2004
Frimpong, E. A., S. E. Lochmann#, M. Bodary, and N. Stone. 2004. Suspended solids from baitfish pond effluents in drainage ditches. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 35(2):159-166.
Bodary, M., N. Stone#, S. E. Lochmann, and E. A Frimpong. 2004. Characteristics of effluents from central Arkansas baitfish ponds. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 35(4):489-497.
2003
Frimpong, E. A., S. E. Lochmann#, and N. M. Stone. 2003. Application of a methodology for surveying and comparing prevalence of drainage ditches to baitfish farms.North American Journal of Aquaculture 65(2):165-170.
Current Graduate Students
Recent Lab Staff, Technicians, and Interns:
