I am a biologist that uses molecular approaches to investigate how wildlife respond to changes in environmental conditions. For my dissertation, I used residual prey DNA in avian feces to show that anthropogenic stream acidification influences the behavior and diet of breeding migratory birds by reducing prey availability. I currently have two on-going studies investigating the influence of local environmental conditions on the diet and gut microbial communities of migratory birds wintering in the Caribbean. As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, I'm using metagenomic techniques to study how changes in diet affect the digestive physiology and gut microbiome of wild rodents.

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Updates

• Presented poster on the effects of gestation on lizard microbial communities at the American Physiology Society's comparative physiology meeting in New Orleans, LA. 
• Interviewed about my dissertation research by WESA Pittsburgh. Listen here.​
• Presented poster on in ovo microbial communities at Beneficial Microbes conference in Madison, WI.
• New manuscript on in ovo microbial communities published in Biology Letters.
• Started postdoc at University of Pittsburgh studying host-microbiome interactions with Kevin Kohl.

Featured Publications​

Conservation biology needs a microbial renaissance: a call for the consideration of host-associated microbiota in wildlife management practices.

In ovo microbial communities: a potential mechanism for the initial acquisition of gut microbiota among oviparous birds and lizards

Stream acidification and reduced aquatic prey availability are associated with dietary shifts in an obligate riparian Neotropical migratory songbird

DNA metabarcoding of nestling feces reveals provisioning of aquatic prey and resource partitioning among Neotropical migratory songbirds in a riparian habitat

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