Environmental DNA (eDNA) allows detection of aquatic organisms from water samples alone—no netting, electrofishing, or visual surveys required. Aquatic organisms leave behind genetic traces that we collect and sequence to identify which species are present.

In collaboration with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland Biological Stream Survey (MBSS), we use eDNA to monitor biodiversity across Maryland's aquatic habitats, track rare and invasive species, and evaluate eDNA methods against conventional sampling.

Check out my publications page for updates on eDNA research.

Brook trout are the only native char of Appalachian streams and a sentinel species for cold, clean water. Across Maryland, populations are fragmented by dams, culverts, and warming temperatures—yet the genomic consequences of this fragmentation remain poorly characterized.

We are conducting a statewide survey of brook trout genomic diversity to assess population structure, estimate effective population sizes, and identify signatures of local adaptation. This work will help prioritize streams for conservation and inform restoration strategies across the Appalachian landscape.

Check out my publications page for updates on this research.

Fish, like people, have populations structured across the landscape—but unlike humans, they don't draw maps. Riverscape community genomics uses SNP data from dozens of co-distributed stream fish species to identify common drivers of spatial genetic structure.

By modeling how species' ecological and life-history traits predict population structure, we aim to forecast genetic patterns for data-poor species and anticipate how fish 'countries' may shift under climate and land-use change.

Check out my publications page for more details, this Molecular Ecology article, and explore the parallel coordinates data.

White-tailed deer are one of North America's most recreationally valuable species and are prized for their lean and healthy meat. Despite the widespread extirpation of deer populations across the U.S. in the early twentieth century, subsequent management efforts helped deer rebound.

But now, populations are increasingly threatened by a fatal neurodegenerative disease known as chronic wasting disease (CWD; a prion disease similar to 'mad cow'). If we do not respond quickly and in earnest to the spread of this disease, then it may once again drive deer extirpation and have cascading effects on ecosystems, economies, and potentially human health.

To contain and mitigate the effects of CWD, we need to be able to forecast how it will spread. I work in collaboration with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) and Arkansas Conservation and Molecular Ecology Lab (ACaMEL) to develop genomic-based tools for studying generational patterns of deer movement across the Arkansas landscape because this can help us predict the most likely routes for the future spread of CWD. These forecasts will help us put containment efforts in the right places.

Check out my publications page for more details, and see this AGFC Wildlife Magazine article.

As a master’s student at the University of Oklahoma, working alongside Bill Matthews, I led a state wildlife grant project assessing fish species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) across 160+ stream reaches in southeastern Oklahoma.

This work revealed that headwater streams are critical for regional biodiversity—depauperate at individual sites but contributing high species turnover and drainage-level richness. Comparisons with surveys from 40 years earlier showed that spatial scale is paramount: individual sites fluctuate dramatically, while catchment-scale assemblages remain more stable through time.

Check out my publications page for more details.