Melanie Stiassny's Old World Field Program

Melanie Stiassny's research is focused on the systematics and conservation of tropical old world freshwater fishes, primarily those of Africa and Madagascar. This research principally seeks to discover and describe new species, resolve problems in the taxonomy and classification of these imperiled fishes, and resolve their phylogenetic placement through detailed morphological studies.
Recent fieldwork has focused on the fishes of west-central Africa, as part of Melanie's work on the soon to be published volume on this region (co-edited with the late Guy Teugels and Carl Hopkins). The next step in her field program is the Congo region, for which she just received NSF support with several collaborators beginning in 2006. In addition to these areas, Melanie still remains active with her work on the phylogeny and taxonomy of Malagasy fishes and the conservation of freshwater in Madagascar.

All of her fieldwork in these tropical regions have highlighted the need to focus more attention on the conservation of limited freshwater reserves and threatened freshwater fishes. Freshwater fishes are among the most threatened of all of the planet's creatures and many are becoming extinct before they can be discovered. Because of this dire situation, much of her field and lab research during the last decade has expanded beyond fish systematics and focused on the conservation of the world's freshwater and freshwater fishes.

Melanie Stiassny's Links
Professional Page
Research Page
Publication Page
Links Page
Congo Project

Recent Expeditions
Survey of Congo, 2006.

Preliminary survey work in coastal northeastern Gabon, 2000.

Survey work in the Southern Truong Son Range, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, 1999.

Rainforest freshwater fish surveys in the upper Ivindo/Ogowe in Gabon, 1998.

Preliminary ichthyofaunal surveys of the inland fishes of Ethiopia, 1995.

Biological surveys of the Tarangire and Manyara National Parks of Tanzania, East Africa, 1994.

Ichthyofaunal survyes of the freshwater fishes of Sierra Leone, West Africa, 1990.

Several surveys of the freshwater fishes of Madagascar, 1988, 1990, and 1993.