Current and Past work
01
Charactering the temporal trends in the concentration and composition of microplastics over the 20th century to present in the Chesapeake Bay
The work aim to understand how microplastic accumulation in the environment as changed over time. This is accomplished through tidal marsh systems which act as natural archives of environmental change but have been understudied in their ability to capture and record microplastic signal. This project also aims to understand the sources of microplastics into the environment with a focus on atmospheric deposition. This work is still on going.
02
Mapping Tsunami inundation inland extent on the west coast through the use of eDNA
This work is in collaboration with Dr. Scott Ferguson at Fredonia university. The goal of the project is to apply eDNA techniques to track Tsunami inundation inland to a higher resolution than sand deposits allow. Which would allow for more accurate hazard models and management plans to be created. This work is on going.
03
Accessing the effects of chloride pollution on Daphnia species from Chautauqua Lake NY
This work was done in collaboration with over 40 other labs world wide. The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of how two species of Daphnia chloride was evolving in response to increased run off pollution compared to Daphnia found in areas where no chloride pollution was occurring.
04
Diatom assemblage changes through time: potential for exploring past environmental conditions at Chautauqua Lake (Chautauqua County, NY, USA)
This project aimed to understand to apply biological proxies to understand the environmental changes that Chautauqua Lake has undergone throughout time. Diatoms were used as the proxy for this work as their community composition can be used to infer multiple lake conditions such as nutrients, pH, and mixing etc. My work on this project focused on taxonomic resolution of Aulacoseira species using an Scanning Electron Microscope.
