Ailish Collins (MS – Aquatic Resources)

Ailish studies the responses of algal assemblages to intermittency in the San Saba River in central Texas. 

Jered Davenport (MS – Aquatic Resources)

Ryan Jones (PhD – Aquatic Resources and Integrative Biology)

My research aims to improve conservation strategies for Eurycea salamanders by addressing key knowledge gaps. I plan to analyze body condition variations across species and sites, compare different methodologies for estimating salamander abundance, and use Population Viability Analysis (PVA) to assess population persistence and extinction risks. The findings will help inform evidence-based conservation policies for these federally listed species in central Texas.

Hannah Mattes (PhD – Aquatic Resources and Integrative Biology)

Hannah is researching nutrient cycling dynamics in Texas rivers that span environmental gradients. She is also interested in modeling how freshwater ecosystem functioning and processes might change over space and time.

Jasmine Rodriguez (PhD – Aquatic Resources and Integrative Biology)

Jasmine’s dissertation research will investigate mercury contamination and its trophic transfer within aquatic food webs in the Colorado River Drainage Basin. By integrating total mercury analysis, stable isotope techniques, and fatty acid tracers, her work will investigate spatial and temporal variations in bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Her interdisciplinary approach will link environmental factors on various scales, food web structures, and aquatic-terrestrial interactions, providing insights for contaminant management and ecological health.

Miranda Sams (PhD – Aquatic Resources and Integrative Biology)

As part of her Ph.D., Miranda is passionately exploring the intricate spatial and temporal processes that shape both long-term and short-term changes in benthic macroinvertebrates’ functional and taxonomic composition across the major drainage basins of Texas. Furthermore, she is dedicated to uncovering how contaminants transfer from aquatic ecosystems to terrestrial riparian environments.

Waverly Wadsworth (MS – Wildlife Ecology)

Dr. Parvathi Nair (Post Doctoral Scholar)

Parvathi examines how food web structures vary along different spatial and temporal scales with variable flow and allochthonous inputs in the San Saba River.

Jessica Kittridge (Grant Specialist)

Aquatic invertebrate identification and enumeration

Rachel Hill (Laboratory Technician)

Aquatic invertebrate identification and enumeration

Al Wilson (Laboratory Technician)

Data and laboratory analysis. Website and social media management.

Tanya Trevino (Laboratory Technician)

Field work and laboratory analysis