Graduate Student Research Topics

Current Students

Jason Shaffer
Thesis: Comparing environmental DNA and snorkel surveys to determine the spatial distribution of Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in the Smith River Basin, California
Advisor: Andre Buchheister, Ph.D.

Alex Juan
Thesis: Evaluating the Use of a Trojan Y Chromosome Strategy to Eradicate Invasive Sacramento Pikeminnow in the Eel River to Aid Recovery of Threatened Salmonids
Advisor: Andre Buchheister, Ph.D.

Claire Stuart
Thesis: Monitoring and evaluating rocky-reef marine protected areas in Northern California
Advisor: Andre Buchheister, Ph.D.

Gavin B. Bandy
Thesis: A Technique to Calibrate eDNA Surveys for Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Dylan J. Keel
Thesis: Quantification of the variability of Ceratonova shasta DNA concentrations in Klamath River water samples
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Daniel Montoya
Thesis: Collaborating with Tribal Partners to Co-produce Knowledge on Surf Smelt Populations Across Humboldt and Del Norte County
Advisor: Jose Marin Jarrin, Ph.D.

Noah Angell
Thesis: Describing Population Status of Redtail Surfperch and Silver Surfperch in Sandy Beach Surf Zones in Northern California Including Marine Protected Areas
Advisor: Jose Marin Jarrin, Ph.D.

Sarah Moreau
Thesis: Factors that attract Yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, to fixed fish aggregating devices (FADs) in the Galapagos Islands
Advisor: Jose Marin Jarrin, Ph.D.

Olivia Boeberitz
Thesis: Presence, Distribution, and Movement of Green Sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) in Humboldt Bay and the Mad River, California
Advisor: Jose Marin Jarrin, Ph.D.

Lily Olmo
Thesis: Using fish to study the trophic food chain of artificial wetlands in the Arcata Marsh, CA
Advisor: Jose Marin Jarrin, Ph.D.

Jacqueline Bridegum
Thesis:
Advisor:

Graduated

Summer 2022

Cory Dick
Thesis: Comparing molecular methods to estimate fish stomach contents and gastric evacuation rates: Implications for measuring the impacts of predation on Central Valley Chinook salmon
Advisor:

Spring 2022

Katie Terhaar
Thesis: Sandy Beach Surf zone Fish Communities and Marine Protected Areas in Northern California
Advisor: Jose Marin Jarrin, Ph.D.

2023

Z Zenobia
Thesis: Status of Spirinchus starksi (Night Smelt) in Northern California in 2021
Advisor: Jose Marin Jarrin, Ph.D.

Natasha Ficzycz
Thesis: Inferring exposure to harmful pseudo-nitzschia blooms from ocean-to-estuary gradients in domoic acid concentrations in Humboldt Bay bivalves
Advisor: Eric Bjorkstedt, Ph.D.

Braden Herman
Thesis: Use of foreign eDNA tracers to resolve site- and time-specific eDNA distributions in natural streams
Advisor: Eric Bjorkstedt, Ph.D.

2022

Leon Davis
Thesis: Assessing abundance, presence, and length, and marine protected area effectiveness for three key rocky reef species along the Northern California Coast
Advisor: Andre Buchheister, Ph.D.

2021

Max Grezlik
Thesis: Evaluating the effects of Atlantic Menhaden management and environmental change on the Northwest Atlantic Ocean Ecosystem
Advisor: Andre Buchheister, Ph.D.

Max Grezlik
Thesis: Evaluating the effects of Atlantic Menhaden management and environmental change on the Northwest Atlantic Ocean Ecosystem
Advisor: Andre Buchheister, Ph.D.

Doyle J. Coyne
Thesis: Comparison of standard and environmental DNA methods for estimating Chinook salmon smolt abundance in the Klamath River, California
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Christopher O'Keefe
Thesis: Do beaver dam analogues act as passage barriers to juvenile coho salmon and juvenile steelhead trout?
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

Roxanne Robertson
Thesis: Resolving variability in size structure in an individual-based model for the North Pacific krill, Euphausia pacifica
Advisor: Eric Bjorkstedt, Ph.D.

Blair M. Winnacott
Thesis: Response of coastal ichthyoplankton assemblages off northern California to seasonal oceanographic and climate variability
Advisor: Eric Bjorkstedt, Ph.D.

Natalie Okun
Thesis: Effects of large wood restoration on coho salmon in a northern California watershed: a before-after-control-impact experiment
Advisor:

Nick Van Vleet
Thesis: Effects of large wood restoration on coho salmon in a northern California watershed: a before-after-control-impact experiment
Advisor:

2020

Nissa Kreidler
Thesis: Species distribution models for three deep-sea coral and sponge taxa in the southern California Bight
Advisor: Andre Buchheister, Ph.D.

Nissa Kreidler
Thesis: Species distribution models for three deep-sea coral and sponge taxa in the southern California Bight
Advisor: Andre Buchheister, Ph.D.

Steven R. Fong
Thesis: Spatial and temporal genetic structure of winter-run steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) returning to the Mad River, California
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Max Ramos
Thesis: Recolonization potential for coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in tributaries to the Klamath River after dam removal
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

Madison Halloran
Thesis: Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) dispersal and life history variations among Humboldt Bay watersheds
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

Nissa Kreidler
Thesis: Species distribution models for three deep-sea coral and sponge taxa in the Southern California Bight
Advisor:

Emerson Kanawi
Thesis: Comparing environmental DNA and traditional monitoring approaches to assess the abundance of outmigrating coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in California coastal streams
Advisor:

2019

Chad M. Martel
Thesis: Using environmental DNA and occupancy modeling to estimate rangewide metapopulation dynamics of the endangered tidewater goby eucyclogobius spp.
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Grace Ghrist
Thesis: Freshwater and marine survival of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) as a function of juvenile life history
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

Laura Solinger
Thesis: Spatial variability in recruitment of Chilipepper rockfish (sebastes goodei) in the California current system
Advisor: Eric Bjorkstedt, Ph.D.

Emily Chen
Thesis: Contribution of juvenile estuarine residency in a bar-built estuary to recruitment of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
Advisor:

Chris Loomis
Thesis: Density and distribution of piscivorous fishes in the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta
Advisor:

John Deibner-Hanson
Thesis: Overwinter survival and movement of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in relation to large woody debris and low-velocity habitat in Northern California streams
Advisor:

Hannah Coe
Thesis: Effects of longline oyster aquaculture on benthic invertebrate communities in Humboldt Bay, California
Advisor:

2018

Keith Parker
Thesis: Evidence for the genetic basis and inheritance of ocean and river-maturing ecotypes of Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) in the Klamath River, California.
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Michael Sutter
Thesis: Rangewide tidewater goby occupancy survey using environmental DNA
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Kevin Hinterman
Thesis: Baseline monitoring and characterization of rocky intertidal fish communities in Northern California
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Cori Flannery
Thesis: The effects of ocean acidification and reduced oxygen on the behavior and physiology of juvenile rockfish
Advisor: Eric Bjorkstedt, Ph.D.

2017

Gabriel Scheer
Thesis: A population model for coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in Freshwater Creek: Evaluating the effects of life history variation and habitat restoration
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

Justin Alvarez
Thesis: Abundance, growth and predation by non-native brown trout in the Trinity River, CA
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

2016

Ryann Whitemore
Thesis: Evaluation of parameter estimation and field application of transgenerational genetic mark-recapture
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Molly Gorman
Thesis: Juvenile survival and adult return as a function of freshwater rearing life history for Coho Salmon in the Klamath River basin
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

Michelle Krall
Thesis: The influence of habitat characteristics on abundance and growth of juvenile Coho Salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch in constructed habitats in the middle Klamath River basin
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

2015

Conrad Newell
Thesis: Development of captive culture methods for the endangered tidewater goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi)
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Molly Schmelzle
Thesis: Monitoring endangered tidewater goby using environmental DNA in water samples
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Sean Cochran
Thesis: Marine survival of Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) from small coastal watersheds in Northern California
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

2014

Jesse Wiesenfeld
Thesis: Riverscape genetics identifies cryptic lineages of speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus) in the Klamath-Trinity basin
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Shari Witmore
Thesis: Seasonal growth retention and movement of juvenile coho salmon in natural and constructed habitats of the mid-Klamath River
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

Christine Roddam
Thesis: Residency, growth, and outmigration size of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), across rearing locations in the Shasta River, California
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

Shari Witmore
Thesis: Seasonal growth retention and movement of juvenile coho salmon in natural and constructed habitats of the mid-Klamath River
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

Kathryn Crane
Thesis: Environmental effects on growth of early life history stages of rockfishes (Sebastes) off Central California based on analysis of otolith growth patterns.
Advisor: Eric Bjorkstedt, Ph.D.

2013

Jennifer Hauer
Thesis: Overwinter survival and growth of juvenile coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, in Freshwater, California
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

Jennifer Hauer
Thesis: Overwinter survival and growth of juvenile coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, in Freshwater, California
Advisor: Darren Ward, Ph.D.

2011

Michael Hellmair
Thesis: Life history variation, genetic diversity and extinction risk in the endangered tidewater goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi)
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

Melissa Reneski
Thesis: Temporal genetic analyses reveal divergence of hatchery steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) via drift
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.

James Hearsey
Thesis: Reproductive traits of sympatric spring and fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and their hybrids
Advisor: Andrew Kinziger, Ph.D.