Current research:
Assistant Professor of Biology
St. Francis College
Plankton of the East River, Brooklyn NY
I am working with undergraduate researchers to explore the East River, a habitat close to St. Francis College. We are particularly interested in zooplankton community diversity and abundance as it relates to habitat characteristics like salinity, dissolved, oxygen, turbidity, and more.
To this end, I have worked with students to sample at two locations throughout the summer. My students presented their research as posters at the 55th Annual MACUB conference in Fall 2022.
To this end, I have worked with students to sample at two locations throughout the summer. My students presented their research as posters at the 55th Annual MACUB conference in Fall 2022.
Graduate Student Researcher,
Stony Brook University
Ecological Stoichiometry and Community Ecology
2014 - 2019.
Advisor: Dr. Stephen Baines, Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University.
Committee:
Dr. Dianna K. Padilla
(Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University);
Dr. Jackie Collier
(School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University)
Dr. Maarten Boersma
(Alfred Wegener Institute, Helgoland, Germany)
Dr. Cédric L Meunier
(Alfred Wegener Institute, Helgoland, Germany)
My dissertation focused on consumer selectivity and prey elemental content. A consumer organism’s elemental content reflects its biochemical makeup because things like proteins, nucleic acids, and muscle tissue contain carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in characteristic ratios. Consumers must maintain relatively strict internal ratios of C, N, and P in order to maximize their growth and reproduction. However, their autotrophic prey can vary in their C, N, and P content for various reasons, and thus autotrophs can exhibit elemental ratios that differ substantially from the consumer's requirements.
We know that selectivity based on prey characteristics like size or escape speed is commonly observed consumers like in marine planktonic, and consumers behave differently in the presence of various kinds of prey. However, we don't know how much consumers rely on prey elemental content versus other characteristics, like prey size or swimming speed, to select prey. We also don't know how consumer behavior may change in response to its prey's elemental content, and the consequences of this changed behavior for patterns of consumer aggregation observed in the field. This is an important gap in our knowledge because the ability for consumers to select prey based on its biochemical content may have ecosystem-wide consequences for structuring community composition and biogeochemical cycling.
To this end, I have asked:
(1) How/does the behavior of an important marine consumer, the copepod Acartia tonsa, change in response to food C, N, and P content across its life history?
(2) Does A. tonsa select its prey based more on physical characteristics of prey, or its elemental content?
(3) Using these results, can we build a computer model to explain patterns of A. tonsa aggregation in response to food quality that might explain some field observations of copepod behavior?
To answer these questions, I have...
(1) ...Traveled to the Alfred Wegener Institut (AWI) in Helgoland, Germany where I performed research with Drs. Cédric L. Meunier and Maaren Boersma. I examined whether prey stoichiometry influences copepod swimming behaviors across its ontogeny. I used high-speed videography (1,000+ frames per second) to analyze A. tonsa's swimming behavior in response to Rhodomonas salina algae different elemental quality (different ratios of N:P). This research is being written up for publication, and has being presented at meetings, including ASLO's 2017 Aquatic Science Meeting in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
(2) ...Conducted a series of laboratory experiments examining adult A. tonsa selectivity between two species of diatoms that differed substantially in size, that had been reared to differ in C:N content. These data are currently being analyzed and written up for publication.
(3) ... Built a model to examine how copepod swimming behavior in response to food quality may influence the ability of these consumers to locate and stay within areas of high-quality prey in patches. This work was presented at ASLO's 2018 Aquatic Science Meeting in Victoria, British Columbia.
Additionally, I performed a meta-analysis comparing the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus content of two very different, important marine consumers-- copepods and dinoflagellates. I presented my findings in June 2015 at the Conference on Biological Stoichiometry. I am currently working on writing up these results.
Advisor: Dr. Stephen Baines, Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University.
Committee:
Dr. Dianna K. Padilla
(Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University);
Dr. Jackie Collier
(School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University)
Dr. Maarten Boersma
(Alfred Wegener Institute, Helgoland, Germany)
Dr. Cédric L Meunier
(Alfred Wegener Institute, Helgoland, Germany)
My dissertation focused on consumer selectivity and prey elemental content. A consumer organism’s elemental content reflects its biochemical makeup because things like proteins, nucleic acids, and muscle tissue contain carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in characteristic ratios. Consumers must maintain relatively strict internal ratios of C, N, and P in order to maximize their growth and reproduction. However, their autotrophic prey can vary in their C, N, and P content for various reasons, and thus autotrophs can exhibit elemental ratios that differ substantially from the consumer's requirements.
We know that selectivity based on prey characteristics like size or escape speed is commonly observed consumers like in marine planktonic, and consumers behave differently in the presence of various kinds of prey. However, we don't know how much consumers rely on prey elemental content versus other characteristics, like prey size or swimming speed, to select prey. We also don't know how consumer behavior may change in response to its prey's elemental content, and the consequences of this changed behavior for patterns of consumer aggregation observed in the field. This is an important gap in our knowledge because the ability for consumers to select prey based on its biochemical content may have ecosystem-wide consequences for structuring community composition and biogeochemical cycling.
To this end, I have asked:
(1) How/does the behavior of an important marine consumer, the copepod Acartia tonsa, change in response to food C, N, and P content across its life history?
(2) Does A. tonsa select its prey based more on physical characteristics of prey, or its elemental content?
(3) Using these results, can we build a computer model to explain patterns of A. tonsa aggregation in response to food quality that might explain some field observations of copepod behavior?
To answer these questions, I have...
(1) ...Traveled to the Alfred Wegener Institut (AWI) in Helgoland, Germany where I performed research with Drs. Cédric L. Meunier and Maaren Boersma. I examined whether prey stoichiometry influences copepod swimming behaviors across its ontogeny. I used high-speed videography (1,000+ frames per second) to analyze A. tonsa's swimming behavior in response to Rhodomonas salina algae different elemental quality (different ratios of N:P). This research is being written up for publication, and has being presented at meetings, including ASLO's 2017 Aquatic Science Meeting in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
(2) ...Conducted a series of laboratory experiments examining adult A. tonsa selectivity between two species of diatoms that differed substantially in size, that had been reared to differ in C:N content. These data are currently being analyzed and written up for publication.
(3) ... Built a model to examine how copepod swimming behavior in response to food quality may influence the ability of these consumers to locate and stay within areas of high-quality prey in patches. This work was presented at ASLO's 2018 Aquatic Science Meeting in Victoria, British Columbia.
Additionally, I performed a meta-analysis comparing the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus content of two very different, important marine consumers-- copepods and dinoflagellates. I presented my findings in June 2015 at the Conference on Biological Stoichiometry. I am currently working on writing up these results.
Zebra mussels
2012- 2015. Dr. Stephen Baines at SUNY Stony Brook.
I studied how zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) use dissolved organic matter (DOM) as a direct terrestrial energetic subsidy. Extrinsic energetic subsidies are inputs introduced to a system that organisms subsequently use for processes such as growth and reproduction. This work is important because energy subsidies may be influenced by anthropogenic factors such as increased run-off due to changing land use, pollution effects on soil chemistry, climate change, or carbon dioxide fertilization of plants in the watershed. In particular, we work in the Hudson River of New York to determine how zebra mussels may use materials like DOM to persist, despite having consumed most of the available phytoplankton in the river. |
Laboratory technician
2009-2012. Dr. Mark Urban at the University of Connecticut, Storrs.
As Dr. Urban's technician, I worked on aspects of multiple projects around the lab, including collecting and preparing data related to zooplankton, larval spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), larval marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum) and other temporary pond species. I also helped conduct field and laboratory research experiments involving amphibian metapopulations, managed animal rearing and care, coordinated work-study students, purchased items and organized materials for lab members, and constructed experimental equipment.
Additionally, I conducted independent research to determine if local adaptive plasticity of New Hampshire spotted salamander larvae (Ambystoma maculatum) to a native predator, the red-spotted newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), mediates its survival when exposed to the marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum), which is expected to expand its northern range boundary with climate change. I first-authored a paper on my research, which was published in the journal Ecography.
As Dr. Urban's technician, I worked on aspects of multiple projects around the lab, including collecting and preparing data related to zooplankton, larval spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), larval marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum) and other temporary pond species. I also helped conduct field and laboratory research experiments involving amphibian metapopulations, managed animal rearing and care, coordinated work-study students, purchased items and organized materials for lab members, and constructed experimental equipment.
Additionally, I conducted independent research to determine if local adaptive plasticity of New Hampshire spotted salamander larvae (Ambystoma maculatum) to a native predator, the red-spotted newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), mediates its survival when exposed to the marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum), which is expected to expand its northern range boundary with climate change. I first-authored a paper on my research, which was published in the journal Ecography.
Seasonal technician,
Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)
2009. Marine Fisheries Division, Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.
As a seasonal technician with the Connecticut DEP, I worked with volunteers to stock Atlantic salmon fry in streams and rivers around Connecticut. At Rainbow Dam, I helped catch and transport adult Atlantic salmon to a federal hatchery. Later, I participated in Atlantic salmon spawning programs in Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. My team helped to maintain fishways and dams state-wide, and electrofished for species of interest including salmon, trout, sea lamprey, and American eel.
As a seasonal technician with the Connecticut DEP, I worked with volunteers to stock Atlantic salmon fry in streams and rivers around Connecticut. At Rainbow Dam, I helped catch and transport adult Atlantic salmon to a federal hatchery. Later, I participated in Atlantic salmon spawning programs in Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. My team helped to maintain fishways and dams state-wide, and electrofished for species of interest including salmon, trout, sea lamprey, and American eel.
undergraduate student researcher
2007-2009. Friday Harbor Laboratories, with Dr. Erika Iyengar, Muhlenberg College, Allentown PA.
I worked at FHL for two summers and analyzed data throughout the school year. I examined (1) whether the small epibiotic snail, Crepidula adunca, is in a mutualistic or parasitic relationship with its host snail, Calliostoma ligatum, and (2) why C. adunca chooses C. ligatum as its host over other potential host snails, including the sympatric, confamilial snail Margarites pupillus. My work culminated in receiving Highest Honors in Biology from Muhlenberg College, best undergraduate poster (2007) and best undergraduate talk (2009) at the Lehigh Valley Evolution and Ecology Symposium (LVEES), and a poster presentation at the Society for Interative and Comparative Biology (SICB) conference in January 2009. I first-authored a paper published in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, and sections of my thesis were published in a student writing textbook.
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2006-2007. Stream recovery after flooding, with Dr. Erika Iyengar, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA.
I studied the rate of invertebrate population and diversity recovery after major flooding in the Jordan Creek. Research results were presented at the Muhlenberg College Summer Poster Session and Lehigh Valley Evolution and Ecology Symposium (LVEES).
I worked at FHL for two summers and analyzed data throughout the school year. I examined (1) whether the small epibiotic snail, Crepidula adunca, is in a mutualistic or parasitic relationship with its host snail, Calliostoma ligatum, and (2) why C. adunca chooses C. ligatum as its host over other potential host snails, including the sympatric, confamilial snail Margarites pupillus. My work culminated in receiving Highest Honors in Biology from Muhlenberg College, best undergraduate poster (2007) and best undergraduate talk (2009) at the Lehigh Valley Evolution and Ecology Symposium (LVEES), and a poster presentation at the Society for Interative and Comparative Biology (SICB) conference in January 2009. I first-authored a paper published in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, and sections of my thesis were published in a student writing textbook.
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2006-2007. Stream recovery after flooding, with Dr. Erika Iyengar, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA.
I studied the rate of invertebrate population and diversity recovery after major flooding in the Jordan Creek. Research results were presented at the Muhlenberg College Summer Poster Session and Lehigh Valley Evolution and Ecology Symposium (LVEES).
All photographs on this webpage are copyright of
Emily Herstoff, unless otherwise noted. |