Arif Jan Ph.D.
Fisheries Sciences, Statistics
Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Welcome, and thank you for visiting my website. I am a Quantitative Stream Ecologist with a Ph.D. in Fisheries Sciences and minor in Statistics. My research interests includes Species Distribuiton, Impacts of Climate Change and Biological Invasion on native species, Decision Science, Risk Analysis, and questions related to Stream Ecology.
From exploring the conservation of coldwater Snow Trout in the Himalayas to studying the impacts of invasive species like Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike across the Pacific Northwest, and examining the resilience of indigenous tiny fish species in the Andes mountains of South America, my passion lies in leveraging predictive models to address pressing conservation challenges. I harness the power of geospatial tools, including traditional statistical models, advanced machine learning algorithms, and software like ArcGIS Pro, R, Python, and other specialized tools, to delve deep into these critical and interesting questions.
My PhD dissertation addresses the critical threats to freshwater ecosystems, habitat degradation, biological invasion, and climate change by developing robust quantitative methodologies to assess habitat distribution and quality. I propose geospatial frameworks integrating spatially continuous reach-scale variables with landscape-scale climatic and land cover data, optimizing ENMs for freshwater systems. My dissertation examines the ecological niches of non-native rainbow and brown trout in the Himalayan ecoregion, assesses habitat overlap with native snow trout, and evaluates the impacts of climate change and invasive species on native salmonids. Using ensemble models, the study predicts potential increases in habitat overlap and heightened predation pressure under future climate scenarios. My research underscore the importance of incorporating multi-scale environmental variables in ENMs to enhance predictive accuracy, supporting better conservation and management of freshwater habitats and species in regions such as the Himalayas, North America, and Patagonia.