Native fishes of the Gila River Basin
Lateral Lines recently produced a poster of the native fishes of the Gila River Basin for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. The poster was funded by the Share with Wildlife Program, and will be used for education and outreach. The front side features illustrations by W. Howard Brandenburg, and the rear side includes descriptive summaries of each of the native fish species.
Food for silvery minnow (Hybognathus amarus)
I have been working with Dr Becky Bixby examining food resource use by the federally endangered Rio Grande Silvery Minnow (Hybognathus amarus). We are examining gut contents of the fish in relation to available food resources (both invertebrate and algal). This is the second year of the project and an opportunity to examine inter-annual differences. Last year, we worked with Summer Woods-Tunney, an undergraduate student who also completed an Honors project. This year, Ryan Kelly joins the team.
Food web dynamics in the Rio Grande
I have been working with Professor Tom Turner since 2006, examining food web dynamics in the middle Rio Grande. We have conducted community surveys of invertebrate and fish fauna, stable isotope analyses and mesocosm experiments as part of this project. This is one of the first extensive studies of the aquatic invertebrate fauna of the middle Rio Grande.
Bottom-up and top-down effects on periphyton
I have been working with Dr. Becky Bixby at UNM, investigating the effects of nutrients and invertebrate grazers on periphyton in the middle Rio Grande. We have been conducting surveys in conjunction with the food web project, as well as using nutrient-diffusing substrates in experiments to explicitly examine the influence of N and P on periphyton.
Invertebrate community structure in temporary wetlands
For my PhD research, I studied invertebrate community structure in temporary wetlands on the Murrumbidgee floodplain (Australia). I conducted surveys of microhabitats and invertebrate fauna, and used mesocosm experiments to study community structure in different types of microhabitats.