Jussi Koskinen

I joined the Integrative Ecology Unit (http://www.helsinki.fi/bioscience/ecology/hirvonen.htm) as an undergraduate student in 2004. Since January 2009, I have continued my path in the field of behavioural ecology of salmonids with a PhD project entitled: "Cognitive ecology of salmonids: causes and consequences of individual variation in behaviour". The PhD is supervised by Senior Lecturer Heikki Hirvonen and Prof. Raine Kortet and it is executed in close collaboration with the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute’s Kainuu Fisheries Research station (http://www.rktl.fi/kala/istutustutkimukset/toiminnan_keskeinen_sisalto/menestyva_istukas.html). In January 2010, I started in a 4-year PhD position under the LUOVA graduate school (The Finnish School in Wildlife Biology, Conservation and Management).

My research

My thesis focuses on the cognitive ecology of salmonid juveniles (Salmo salar and Salvelinus alpinus L). Integrating behavioural ecology to underlying genetic and neural mechanisms, I investigate the causes and consequences of individual variation in antipredator and foraging behavior. In particularly, I am interested in the interplay between innate responsiveness and learning in the acquisition of antipredator responses, and most recently, the effects of genetic domestication and rearing environment on the brain development and consequent foraging behaviour of Atlantic salmon. My work contributes to the development of new methods, namely environmental enrichment, for fishery management and conservation of endangered salmon populations.