I am interested in how climate change, eutrophication, and management practices impact freshwater ecosystems. Most recently, my research has focused on:

1. How prey availability and habitat quality during the larval period regulates recruitment of Lake Erie walleye.
2. How Lake Erie plankton communities have changed over that past 20 years.
3. How hypoxia and warming temperatures influence the habitat quality of sport fish in Ohio reservoirs.
4. How stocking practices, predation, and reservoir characteristics influence the growth and recruitment of reservoir saugeye.

Recent publications:

May, C. J., R. R. Budnik, S. A. Ludsin, D. R. O'Donnell, J. M. Hood, E. F. Roseman, and E. A. Marschall. 2021. Evidence that copepod biomass during the larval period regulates recruitment of Lake Erie walleye. Journal of Great Lakes Research. 41(4): 1159-1169. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0380133021002112?via%3Dihub 

Budnik, R. R., J. L. Kallis, and E. A. Marschall. 2021. Influence of stocking practices, predation, and reservoir characteristics on the growth and recruitment of saugeye. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nafm.10624

Budnik, R. R., G. B. Steinhart, J. D. Conroy, R. D. Zweifel, and S. A. Ludsin. 2021. Effects of hypoxia on habitat quality of reservoir largemouth bass, saugeye, and white crappie. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 150: 75–88. https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/tafs.10272

Budnik, R. R., J. D. Conroy, R. D. Zweifel, S. A. Ludsin, and E. A. Marschall. 2020. Projecting future habitat quality of three midwestern reservoir fishes under warming conditions. Ecology of Freshwater Fish. 30: 31–47. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/eff.12561