Banner photo: Redspot Darter – a lowland species found in the Mobile River drainage.
Lab-group members
Dr. Sara Cathey, Postdoctoral Research Associate: In her graduate career, Sara focused her research on the assembly and stability of freshwater communities threatened by global change. While a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Mississippi State, she will be leading a Species Status Assessment for the Oktibbeha Rivulet Crayfish (Hobbseus orconectoides) while assisting with modeling the occupancy of other rivulet crayfishes. Before joining Miss State, Sara obtained a BSc in Biology with a concentration in marine and freshwater biology from The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her PhD in Biology from Virginia Tech. Sara's career goal is to serve as a freshwater scientist within academia or with a government agency.
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Devin Raburn, MSc student: Originally from eastern Pennsylvania, Devin moved to Mississippi to pursue a BSc degree in Wildlife, fisheries, and Aquaculture from Mississippi State University. During her undergraduate career, she have worked within the MSU forestry department as a research assistant and performed undergraduate research. She has also participated in the ESA/USGS Cooperative Fellowship Program to develop population and community level metrics of prairie-pothole wetland biodiversity and productivity based on amphibian and aquatic invertebrate monitoring data. Throughout her experience she has developed a passion for aquatic invertebrates and herpetology. She is now pursuing my master’s at MSU where she will be assessing the suitability of roadside ditches and headwater streams as habitat for the Oktibbeha Rivulet Crayfish (H. orconectoides) while clarifying their range and distribution before this species' review under the Endangered Species Act.
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Logan Sleezer, Post-master's Research Associate II: Logan leads a project that is developing a standardized quantitative framework for evaluating imperilment of fish species in the southeast. Ultimately, the tool Logan is developing will help biologists with USFWS quantify a species' risk of imperilment under the Endangered Species Act. Logan regularly interacts with federal biologist to incorporate their feedback throughout his project, and he uses his quantitative and geospatial skill-sets to model the numerous landscape factors that affect freshwater fish populations. Before joining my lab, Logan earned BSc degrees in Biology and Earth Science at Emporia State University (KS), and a master's degree at Virginia Tech in Fish and Wildlife Conservation. Ultimately, Logan wishes to be a Fish and Wildlife Research Biologist at a federal agency.
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Josh Stafford, MSc student: Josh is a master's student with interests in fish movement, habitat restoration, and salmonid ecology. His master's research examines seasonal movements of invasive carps from mainstem rivers through water-control structures into oxbow lakes that support native species, and commercial and recreational fisheries. The goal of Josh's project is to identify whether operations of existing water infrastructure impede the spread of invasive carps. For his research, Josh routinely navigates rivers, bayous, and backwaters to track movements of carps using active and passive acoustic telemetry. Before joining my lab group, Josh received bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies at Montreat College (NC). He also worked on several fieldcrews in the western US focused on salmonid conservation and he monitored river fisheries in central Tennessee while working for Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Ultimately, Josh's career goal is to become a state or federal fisheries management biologist.
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