Earth Scientist
Earth Scientist

Biography

Dr. Brenda Pracheil is an Earth scientist and fisheries biologist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Associate Editor of Methods in Ecology and Evolution, and Governing Board Chair of the Low Impact Hydropower Institute. She received BS and BA degrees in Biological Sciences and Philosophy and a PhD in Natural Resources from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, an MS in Zoology from Michigan State University, and conducted postdoctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her current work broadly focuses primarily on environmental sustainability of hydropower and aquatic conservation as well as calcium carbonate biomineralization.

Publications

2025

  • Bozeman B., B.M. Pracheil, and P. Matson. 2025. "The environmental impact of hydropower: a systematic review of the ecological effects of sub-daily flow variability on riverine fish." Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 35, no. 1:45 - 76. PNNL-SA-195412. doi:10.1007/s11160-024-09909-4
  • Pracheil B.M., K.P. Duffy, L. Zeng, and J.W. Saulsbury. 2025. Environmental Impacts of Closed-Loop Pumped Storage Hydropower. PNNL-36322. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Environmental Impacts of Closed-Loop Pumped Storage Hydropower

2024

  • Hou H., B.M. Pracheil, and V.H. Chalishazar. 2024. Database schema design : Energy Flexibility Environmental Tradeoffs Tool. PNNL-35725. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Database schema design : Energy Flexibility Environmental Tradeoffs Tool
  • Neary J., B.M. Pracheil, R. Gabitov, M. Li, and P. Allen. 2024. "The influence of water, diet, and temperature on 87Sr/86Sr in fin spines of juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus." Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 570. PNNL-SA-182539. doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2023.151973
  • Pracheil B.M., V.H. Chalishazar, H.I. Jager, T. De Silva, W. Mcdavitt, D. Mccoskey, and K. Jackson, et al. 2024. "How Fisheries Biologists Can Facilitate the Clean Energy Transition." Fisheries 49, no. 11:524-535. PNNL-SA-177277. doi:10.1002/fsh.11168

2022

  • De Silva T., J. Jorgenson, J. Macknick, N. Keohan, A. Miara, H.I. Jager, and B.M. Pracheil. 2022. "Hydropower operation in future power grid with various renewable power integration." Applied Energy 43:329-339. PNNL-SA-190217. doi:10.1016/j.ref.2022.11.001