Education Background:
The bulk of my studies have centered on aquatic ecosystems. During my B.A. I had the opportunity to take a three-month expedition down the Green and Colorado River. It was during this course I solidified my passion for studying ecology. In another course, I spent over a year in the Gulf of California studying marine ecology and conservation, fisheries, and invertebrate zoology while soaking up the natural history and refining my interests to aquatic biology. After graduating, I worked for the Grand Canyon Research and Monitoring Center, studying the importance of backwater habitat for juvenile native fish, the upstream dam influence on the aquatic food web in the Grand Canyon and a handful of other side projects. During my M.S. I gained more experience with experimental design working with predator and prey interactions in an amazing spring system, Montezuma Well. For my Ph.D., I retreated into the lab to answer how river regulation of the Colorado River has influenced the marine ecosystem in the Gulf of California, a question I had pondered since undergrad. I compared the microchemistry of otolith (fish ear-bones) from the past to recently caught marine fishes to determine historic conditions, habitat use, and looked at growth and ontogeny in relation to habitat characteristics. A somewhat recent hands-on learning experience has pushed me into exploring early childhood development.
Academic Interests:
One of the larger hurdles for conservation biologists is how to define ecological baselines. I find it incredibly exciting to apply what I have learned from sedimentologist, stratigraphers and geochemist coupled with the accretionary growth of hard parts in aquatic animals to reconstruct historic conditions. I primarily use oxygen isotope ratios to look at temperature, validate growth, and to detect different sources of water (fresh vs. marine). Recently, I have begun exploring the use of carbon stable isotopes in carbonate to determine relative levels of productivity as well as using elemental finger printing to explore habitat connectivity for invertebrates such as bivalves as well as fishes. My hope is that some of these tools will help inform us about conditions of habitats and the natural history of the inhabitants before the industrial era, where anthropogenic influence dominate.
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