Research Projects
Comparative Landscape Genomics
As genomic approaches become more affordable and spatial analyses are refined, the field of landscape genomics is growing. Finding the common drivers of gene flow across species and systems has been a motivator for several studies and large projects, including the California Conservation Genomics Project and the Los Angeles Genomics Project.
​
As part of my dissertation, I am examining landscape drivers of gene flow in three anuran species: the Columbia Spotted Frog (Rana luteiventris), Boreal Chorus Frog (Pseudacris maculata) and Boreal Toad (Anaxyrus boreas), within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Identifying similarities and differences in response to landscape variables in several species within the same system can help inform management actions, especially for a threatened taxon like amphibians.
​
Additionally, as a 2024 Fulbright scholar to Argentina, I am collaboratingwith the Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas to conduct a comparative study of North American Beavers (Castor canadensis) in a native (the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem) and non-native (Tierra del Fuego) environment. This project will provide insight into the landscape variables that impede or promote effective dispersal in beavers, informing both re-introduction and translocation efforts in North America and eradication efforts in South America. From this project, I also aim to learn how transferrable knowledge about an invasive species in its native environment can inform control efforts in a non-native one.
Beaver Impacts on Amphibian Communities in the Greater Yellowstone
Several studies in a variety of systems (the intermountain West, the Adirondacks, Europe) have found positive associations between beaver ponds and the number and diversity of amphibians present. As climate change reduces the persistence of other, more ephemeral wetlands, beaver ponds may represent important climate refugia for amphibians. However, many of these studies limit beaver activity to a binary variable: either the pond is a beaver pond, or it is not. Through my dissertation work in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, I combine visual survey data with environmental DNA detections of 4 amphibian species to model amphibian occupancy and diversity as a function of the landscape-level changes caused by beaver. Through these models, I aim to better describe the significance of beaver activity to amphibian populations and communities and identify the specific characteristics of beaver ponds that make them valuable habitat for vulnerable amphibians.
Extending Diversity Hypotheses to Intraspecific Genetic Variation through Ecosystem Engineering
Three broad hypotheses related to species diversity in ecology are (1) the Species-Area Hypothesis, (2) the Habitat Heterogeneity Hypothesis, and (3) the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis. Ecosystem engineers, as species that can create, diversify, or disturb habitat, have the potential to affect the distribution of diversity through each of these hypotheses. As part of my dissertation work, I aim to identify how beavers, as ecosystem engineers, impact amphibian habitat, and what consequences those changes have for intraspecific genetic diversity. Do the same hypotheses that apply to species diversity extend down the biological hierarchy? Do beaver wetlands support more genetically diverse beaver populations, and if so, can that be attributed more to habitat amount, heterogeneity, or disturbance?
Population Genetics of Seaside Sparrows
For my undergraduate honors thesis at LSU, I applied a next-generation sequencing approach to nearly 300 Seaside Sparrow (Ammospiza maritima) samples in order to build upon previous work assessing population genetic structure in the species. Previous studies had utilized microsatellites and focused on subsets of the species range; my honors thesis combined samples from the entire range, including the federally Endangered subspecies, the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow. With this larger dataset, we found largely concordant results with previous genetic work, indicating that the subspecific taxonomy of the species most likely needed to be revised, and identifying populations that should be further researched for differences in song or morphology.
Other Projects
Detecting Landscape Effects on Gene Flow in Invasion Scenarios: Two Case Studies
​
The Importance of Landscape Connectivity for a Hummingbird-pollinated Tropical Plant (Heliconia tortuosa)
​
Historical Changes to the Distribution of Bachman’s Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis)
​
Defining Sickle-winged Nightjar (Eleothreptus anomalus) Home Ranges in northern Argentina
