About

Professor Emmanuel Frimpong is a faculty member in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech, with a research focus on the ecology and conservation of freshwater fishes. His work emphasizes understanding how anthropogenic alterations to habitats and landscapes, such as agriculture, aquaculture, urban development, introduction of nonnative species, and climate change, affect fish species differently based on their life history traits and biotic interactions. A major theme in his research is explaining the determinants of fish distributions, predicting how these distributions will respond to environmental changes, and developing management and conservation solutions. His research extends to sustainable aquaculture production, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, as an alternative to overexploitation of natural fisheries to support growing and urban populations in developing countries. Professor Frimpong has contributed to courses on fisheries techniques, fish ecology, and landscape ecology, and has been involved in research projects related to climate adaptation of tilapia populations and regional fish distribution modeling. He holds degrees from the University of Science & Technology in Ghana, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Virginia Tech, and Purdue University.

Research topics

• Biology
• Ecology
• Geography
• Fishery
• Environmental resource management
• Agroforestry
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• Embryonic selfish‐herding blurs the line between brood parasitism and mutualism for communal‐breeding stream fishes

  Ecology · 2026-01-01

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Mutualisms are complex, interspecific relationships, which sometimes create "selfish-herds" as individuals of each species compete to maximize their own fitness. Nest association, where individuals of different species spawn on a nest created by a host species, is a reproductive interaction characteristic of some minnows (Leuciscidae) and is considered mutualistic despite mimicking the behavior labeled "brood parasitism." We studied the spawning behaviors of bluehead chub (Nocomis leptocephalus) and its nest associates, testing the hypothesis that bluehead chub exploits the selfish-herd dynamic in a novel manner by arranging embryos within its nest to maximize the survival of its own offspring at the expense of the nest associates' offspring. Our results show that embryos were not uniformly distributed within a nest, as one section representing one-sixth of the nest's total volume contained a disproportionate percentage of embryos (x¯ = 40.0% ± 6.1% SE). We found three-quarters of host embryos within deeper nest sections safer from embryo predators, whereas only a third of all associate embryos were found in the same sections. These results support our hypothesis that male Nocomis leptocephalus create "embryonic selfish-herds" within their nests. This is the first study to document the existence of embryonic selfish-herds, a phenomenon that warrants the reexamination of some vertebrate reproductive interactions labeled as brood parasitism.

  PublisherDOI

• Mr. Mom: <i>Nocomis</i> Embryo‐Burying Effectively Increases Embryo Survival Amidst Predation by All Mutualism Participants

  Ecology Of Freshwater Fish · 2025-12-16 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT Nest association is a putatively mutualistic mode of reproduction utilized by many fishes of the North American freshwater family Leuciscidae. It is defined by the interaction between one ‘host’ species that builds and maintains a nest, and multiple other species of ‘nest associates’ that spawn upon it. We studied the aggregations of spawning Nocomis leptocephalus in order to identify potential embryo predation behaviors of the host or associates. We investigated the effectiveness of host parental care by comparing predation upon buried and unburied embryos. The main observed parental care behavior of the host—embryo burying—increased embryo survival by 26.8 (±5.6%) on average, indicating that it is an effective method of improving reproductive success. We hypothesized that both host and associates are responsible in part for embryo predation, and that nest associate abundance increased the risk of embryo predation. DNA metabarcoding of gut contents revealed that indeed both host and associates consumed heterospecific embryonic material, whereas model‐based evidence suggested that associate abundance only weakly affected embryo predation rate. This work furthers and supports previous research recognizing the nuance in identifying nest association as a mutualism, and work which has suggested the host benefits from nest associates beyond the predation‐dilution effect on its embryos. Here we identify an additional benefit to hosts and associates—the direct consumption of each other's embryos—making this the first study to directly investigate and demonstrate predation upon embryos by nesting fishes in this system.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• On the importance and practical conservation of nongame fishes

  Fisheries · 2025-05-28 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT Fisheries management has historically focused conservation efforts on game or sport species. However, most species are nongame—those not traditionally captured for sport or harvest in countries where recreational fisheries predominate. Greater conservation of nongame species could help ensure that population declines do not go unnoticed. Unfortunately, fisheries managers already manage complex ecosystems with limited resources, and they frequently are directed to focus on game fishes. However, game fish populations can also be tightly coupled to nongame fishes, so nongame management can sometimes also benefit game species. We reviewed functional roles of freshwater nongame fishes and suggest categories that may be especially important for conservation. Of note, nongame fishes are more imperiled than game fishes and fill largely distinct functional roles. These roles include food-web impacts, ecosystem engineering, and mussel hosting. Management priorities could include nongame piscivores and species with high biomass, especially herbivores, nest builders, and imperiled mussel hosts. We provide practical options for including nongame fishes in current management, many of which require little additional funding. These include recognizing when sport fish funding and conservation can also benefit nongame species, whole-community sampling at some monitoring locations, collecting catch data for select species observed during game fish surveys, embracing environmental DNA sampling, and making presence–absence record keeping the default option.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Drivers of the Distributions of Stream‐Dwelling Crayfishes in the New River Catchment, United States

  Aquatic Conservation Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems · 2025-02-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT Crayfish are keystone species and ecosystem engineers in aquatic ecosystems, and many species require conservation to support their continued persistence. Unfortunately, managers often lack basic data needed to make effective conservation decisions. This lack of data is especially true within the New River catchment, United States, where there are 12 known crayfish species, but it is unclear which of those species are native to the catchment, and there is scant ecological and life history data available for many species. Therefore, our objective was to investigate coarse‐scale occurrence drivers of crayfishes in the New River catchment. We used generalized linear mixed effects models to predict occurrence of eight taxa based on instream and landscape‐scale environmental data and biotic interactions. We found that increasing anthropogenic disturbance led to declines in Faxonius spp. (either Faxonius obscurus or Faxonius sanbornii but could not be identified to species) and Cambarus smilax . In contrast, disturbance had a positive relationship only with Faxonius cristavarius . The presence of F. cristavarius was negatively associated with most species. Embeddedness, substrate, per cent riffle, stream size and lithology were additional variables that were related to crayfish occurrence. Our results reveal that increasing human‐mediated changes and invasive crayfish species threaten the persistence of native crayfishes in the New River catchment.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sexual Dimorphism in Canine Teeth for Forensic Sex Determination: A Population-Specific Study from Northern Ghana

  Research Square · 2025-07-23

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Super-resolution mapping in rod photoreceptors identifies rhodopsin trafficking through the inner segment plasma membrane as an essential subcellular pathway

  PLoS Biology · 2024-01-08 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Photoreceptor cells in the vertebrate retina have a highly compartmentalized morphology for efficient phototransduction and vision. Rhodopsin, the visual pigment in rod photoreceptors, is densely packaged into the rod outer segment sensory cilium and continuously renewed through essential synthesis and trafficking pathways housed in the rod inner segment. Despite the importance of this region for rod health and maintenance, the subcellular organization of rhodopsin and its trafficking regulators in the mammalian rod inner segment remain undefined. We used super-resolution fluorescence microscopy with optimized retinal immunolabeling techniques to perform a single molecule localization analysis of rhodopsin in the inner segments of mouse rods. We found that a significant fraction of rhodopsin molecules was localized at the plasma membrane, at the surface, in an even distribution along the entire length of the inner segment, where markers of transport vesicles also colocalized. Thus, our results collectively establish a model of rhodopsin trafficking through the inner segment plasma membrane as an essential subcellular pathway in mouse rod photoreceptors.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Bluehead chub <i>Nocomis leptocephalus</i> hosts exploit selfish‐herd benefits from their heterospecific nest associates

  Freshwater Biology · 2024-01-31 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Prey species often congregate in groups to detect and evade predators, yet not all group members benefit equally. We observed the nesting aggregations of bluehead chub ( Nocomis leptocephalus ), where one nest “hosts” as many as several hundred “nest associates.” We predicted that the male chub exploits the aggregation in a manner consistent with selfish‐herd theory – specifically, by locating itself in the safest location within the aggregation (the centre) and using the aggregation to reduce its own vigilance requirements. Vigilance was measured as the time it took the host (male) chub, first chub female and first individual of each associate species to return to the nest under differing associate abundances (hypothesised to be inversely related to risk) following a simulated predator scare. Spatial position was investigated by digitising host movement and overlaying it with the aggregation and nest's spawning pit area. We used information theoretic statistics to analyse the effect of aggregation characteristics on the return time of chub and their nest associates. The best‐supported model included both species composition and abundance (inverse of risk) as predictors of return time. Hosts returned last under nearly all scenarios and the aggregation as a whole took longest to return in high‐risk environments. The 95% and 99% confidence ellipses of host spatial position contained the centroids of the aggregation and spawning pits, respectively, for all nests analysed ( n = 11). We conclude that the host locates itself at the centre of both the aggregation and the spawning pit area of the nest, and that the host uses the aggregation to reduce its own vigilance requirements. These results support our hypothesis that hosts use their nest associates to disproportionately decrease their risk of predation during spawning. This is the first study to show any mixed‐species fish spawning aggregation as a selfish shoal, and to identify bluehead chub as a selfish participant in the mutualistic reproductive interactions that they host.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Spawning periodicity and possible public information use for Nest site selection in the bluehead chub (<i>Nocomis leptocephalus</i>)

  Ecology Of Freshwater Fish · 2024-06-14 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Nesting animals require information about their environment to place nests in optimal locations. This information can either be derived from an animal's previous experiences (private information), or it may be gained through the observation of the success of conspecifics (public information). This use of public information to locate suitable nesting sites has been explored in birds but not fishes. Many fish construct nests to protect their offspring, and the utilisation of public information could be a suitable strategy for determining which nesting locations would maximise fitness. We studied public and private information use in the bluehead chub, a species of nesting leuciscid in the Southeastern United States, by observing nesting activity and measuring habitat variables along a 0.65 km reach of Toms Creek in Blacksburg, Virginia. We clustered activity data and created generalised linear models to determine if bluehead chubs construct nests within discrete nesting periods during the spawning season and if they use public or private information to select nest sites between these periods. Our results suggest that bluehead chubs construct nests periodically within a single spawning season and use a combination of public and private information when determining suitable nesting sites from one nesting period to another. This study provides some of the first evidence suggesting public information use for nest site selection in a species of fish and opens up a new frontier of research into public information use among fishes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A hydrologic and land cover‐based habitat model for use in bog turtle (<scp><i>Glyptemys muhlenbergii</i></scp>) conservation

  Aquatic Conservation Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems · 2024-07-01

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The endangered bog turtle ( Glyptemys muhlenbergii ) exemplifies issues related to rare species conservation; presence surveys have low detection and variables used in habitat models can lack relevance to established biological relationships of the species to its environment. The species' use of groundwater saturated soils and stream networks as core habitat and dispersal corridors has been documented. Less is known about the landscape factors that promote the formation and persistence of wetlands used for core habitat. A GIS‐based resource selection function was developed to predict bog turtle habitat use. Trained on 1 ha plots centred on occupied sites and pseudo‐absent plots constrained to areas within 56.4 m to stream network centrelines, the model tested the capacity of a topographic wetness index (TWI), stream order and soil, wetland and land cover type to predict the presence of suitable habitat and turtle occupancy. Landscape variables were sampled at 10 m resolution, but variable selection and model performance were analysed at 100 m resolution to maintain a biologically relevant 1 ha habitat scale and accommodate the resolution of other variables. Suitable habitat and turtle presence were best predicted by intermediate to high values of TWI, land cover with low vegetation height and wetlands, second‐ and third‐order streams and the occurrence of mapped National Wetland Inventory polygons and hydric soils. Very high values of TWI were negatively associated with habitat suitability. The area under the curve of the best model was 0.833. Suitable habitat was found on 88% of 55 independent sites selected using the model and nine new occupied sites were confirmed. Model error is discussed with consideration of human‐altered drainage networks on the agricultural landscape.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• An approach to assess data-less small-scale fisheries: examples from Congo rivers

  Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries · 2023-03-21 · 24 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Small-scale fisheries (SSF) account for much of the global fish catch, but data to assess them often do not exist, impeding assessments of their historical dynamics and status. Here, we propose an approach to assess 'data-less' SSF using local knowledge to produce data, life history theory to describe their historical multispecies dynamics, and length-based reference points to evaluate stock status. We demonstrate use of this approach in three data-less SSFs of the Congo Basin. Fishers' recalls of past fishing events indicated fish catch declined by 65-80% over the last half-century. Declines in and depletion of many historically important species reduced the diversity of exploited species, making the species composition of the catch more homogenous in recent years. Length-at-catch of 11 of the 12 most important species were below their respective lengths-at-maturity and optimal lengths (obtained from Fishbase) in recent years, indicating overfishing. The most overfished species were large-bodied and found in the Congo mainstem. These results show the approach can suitably assess data-less SSF. Fishers' knowledge produced data at a fraction of the cost and effort of collecting fisheries landings data. Historical and current data on fish catch, length-at-catch, and species diversity can inform management and restoration efforts to curb shifting baselines of these fisheries. Classification of stock status allows prioritizing management efforts. The approach is easy to apply and generates intuitive results, having potential to complement the toolkits of researchers and managers working in SSF and engage stakeholders in decision-making processes. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11160-023-09770-x.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• RIG: Testing the Effect of Context on a Nest Association Mutualism of Stream Fishes in a Comparative-Advantage Biological Market Framework

  NSF · $207k · 2011–2014

Frequent coauthors

• Toundji Olivier Amoussou

  29 shared

• Ibrahim Imorou Toko

  26 shared

• Luc Houngbe

  BARKA Foundation

  21 shared

• Paul L. Angermeier

  19 shared

• Brandon K. Peoples

  Clemson University

  18 shared

• Ryan A. McManamay

  Baylor University

  9 shared

• Steve E. Lochmann

  University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

  7 shared

• Hillary Egna

  7 shared

Labs

• Emmanuel Frimpong LabPI