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.

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