my research
I am an M.Sc. student in the Taylor lab at UBC (start: Sept.2011). Very broadly, I am interested in evolutionary biology and conservation. After doing my undergraduate thesis research on hybrid Grevy's-Plains zebras in Kenya, I decided that I wanted to spend some time working on questions closer to my home, the Pacific Northwest.
I currently study the Nooksack dace (Rhinichythys cataractae ssp.), an endangered putative subspecies of the longnose dace (Rhinichythys cataractae). The Nooksack dace was isolated from the longnose dace in the Chehalis glacial refugium in northwestern Washington state for 2-3 million years. Following the retreat of the last glacial maximum (c. 10,000 years ago), it dispersed north into British Columbia, occupying several tributaries of the lower Fraser River. Mitochondrial DNA samples suggest that there is a zone of secondary contact between the Nooksack and longnose dace in at least three streams north of the Fraser River. For my thesis, I will be taking mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (microsatellite) samples, as well as morphological measurements, to characterize this potential hybrid zone, and clarify the specific status of the Nooksack dace.