People

2017 - 2025

My research focuses on understanding how Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) adapt to their environment during early life stages. Using genetic, epigenetic, and transcriptomic approaches, I investigate how environmental factors such as temperature and photoperiod influence development and shape adaptive responses. My work has provided new insights into population connectivity through kinship analyses and revealed how DNA methylation and gene expression contribute to larval development and responses to environmental changes. By examining the interactions between genetics, epigenetics, and gene regulation, my research improves our understanding of how marine fish populations may respond to changing ocean conditions. These findings contribute to evolutionary biology while providing insight that can support the conservation and management of ecologically and economically important marine species such as herring.

2015 - 2021

My research interests are in the area of population genetics and evolution. My PhD work focused on understanding at the molecular level the evolutionary and ecological differences between two life history types of Galaxias maculatus, a widespread freshwater and diadromous fish in the southern hemisphere. The ancestral type of this species is a diadromous form (that migrates from freshwater to the sea during the larval stage), while the alternative life history type, a freshwater resident form, is the derived type. I examined the phylogeographic relationship among diadromous and resident populations across the species’ latitudinal range in Chile using SNP markers identified through RAD sequencing and capture methods. Furthermore, I made some progress towards an identification of the evolutionary mechanism underlying these two life histories with a common garden setup and the use of transcriptomics.

2016 - 2021

My thesis project concerns the genetics of Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The goal of my research is to investigate the relative influences of colonization history, neutral processes (e.g. gene flow, drift), and adaptation to freshwater/saltwater environments on the genetic structure of allopatric and sympatric char. Newfoundland and Labrador are home to multiple glacial lineages as well as landlocked and anadromous populations making this an ideal spot to study Arctic char ecology and evolution. We recently published evidence (Salisbury et al. 2017, CJFAS) that Labrador contains both sympatric landlocked morphs and sympatric resident and anadromous morphs which are genetically-distinct based on microsatellite markers. We determined that the resident and anadromous morphs were not differentiated by glacial lineage, suggesting a potential sympatric origin of these morphs. I am currently assessing the glacial lineages of Arctic char across Newfoundland and Labrador using mtDNA and comparing adaptive and neutral SNP loci among and within anadromous, resident, and landlocked populations. By comparing the mtDNA dataset with the SNP dataset I will investigate if contemporary neutral and adaptive genetic structure is influenced by glacial lineage. My research will create a comprehensive genetic framework of Arctic char in Newfoundland and Labrador and therefore will have important implications for our understanding of Arctic char evolution and conservation management.

2015 - 2021

2011 - 2019

I am interested in using molecular genetics methods to examine ecological and evolutionary issues regarding endangered or commercially exploited aquatic organisms, and in the transfer of this knowledge to conservation planning, including the design of marine reserve networks and fisheries management in general. Currently, I am examining neutral and adaptive genetic variation within and among populations of spring- and fall-spawning herring Clupea harengus harengus in the Northwest Atlantic. My goal is to improve our understanding of the roles played by historical and contemporary factors in shaping observed patterns of variation in a marine exploited fish.

I am also involved in a project led by the ECOMANGLARES Research Group from Universidad del Valle, Colombia, the aim of which is to estimate genetic population structuring and connectivity among wild populations of the estuarine bivalve Anadara tuberculosa (common name piangua) along the Colombian Pacific coast. The objective of this initiative is to contribute to the assembly of a sustainable fishery management plan for this species. I also participate in a research initiative led by the BIOMMAR Laboratory from Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, on the coevolution of marine snails of the genus Simnia with seafan octocorals in the Eastern Pacific.

2010 - 2018

My research addresses questions on the ecology and evolutionary biology of one of the most widespread and intriguing native freshwater fish species in Patagonia, Galaxias platei. In an effort to understand issues of connectivity and molecular diversity in this species, I am examining variability at neutral (microsatellites) and functional (MHC) molecular markers. Fieldwork is conducted in two river drainages in Chile, which contrast in their spatial arrangement and complexity. The San Pedro river drainage in south-central Chile is a simple system located in the northern range of the species distribution, in an area that has been highly impacted by humans, with a high incidence of introduced salmonids. The other drainage, the Serrano River drainage, is a dendritic system in southern Patagonia in an area far less impacted by humans and partly free of introduced salmonids. I am examining genetic diversity and connectivity patterns among G. platei populations in both river systems in an effort to contrast landscape attributes and the presence/absence of invasive species.

2009 - 2015

I am interested in phylogeography. For my PhD I am examining the phylogenetic relationships and phylogeographic patterns exhibited by a species complex of intertidal small mussels of the genus Brachidontes. The group inhabits the high intertidal zones of rocky shores and exhibits an antitropical distribution in the western Atlantic: species within the group are distributed in cold- and warm-temperate regions of the northern and southern hemispheres but are absent from the tropics. In the southern hemisphere, their distribution has been affected by the West Wind Drift, the largest and most powerful ocean current in the world. Taxonomic studies within the group have generally been based on shell morphology, but high phenotypic variability has led to taxonomic confusion. My objectives are to clarify the status of the nominal species of Brachidontes from the southwestern Atlantic using genetic information, and to investigate their phylogenetic relations with other species in the group including those inhabiting the northern hemisphere and those that have been affected by the West Wind Drift.

(co-supervised with JM Orensanz and N Basso)

2009 - 2014

I am interested in salmonid ecology, population regulation, the impacts of non-native fishes and recreational fisheries. My research at Dalhousie is focused on estuarine and coastal near-shore mortality in Atlantic salmon, namely the first 4-8 weeks after they leave their natal rivers and begin the marine-phase of their anadromous life history.

(Co-supervised with Fred Whoriskey)

2006 - 2011

The influences of Quaternary processes on native freshwater diversity in Patagonia: molecular insights from the galaxiid fishes

For my PhD research I employed molecular tools in an attempt to better understand what past and present factors are responsible for shaping contemporary genetic diversity within species of the family Galaxiidae inhabiting Patagonia, South America. I used a variety of molecular markers within several contexts, including phylogeography, taxonomy and population genetics, to address questions relating to evolution, biogeography and conservation biology. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University. My primary focus is the development of an alternative treatment for metastatic cancer using synthetic variants of a naturally occurring protein found in the Atlantic flounder.

2007 - 2011

Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina, Doctorate

Ecology, genetics and life history of Galaxias maculatus along two important basins in Patagonia

My research interests include applying molecular genetic tools to help answer ecological and evolutionary questions. During my PhD I examined molecular and phenotypic (body shape, meristic traits) variability in Galaxias maculatus, a southern hemisphere fish species native to Patagonia. I developed and used microsatellite markers to study the interaction among evolutionary forces (e.g., genetic drift, gene flow) and landscape features in Patagonia, and their role in shaping the neutral genetic structure among populations of this abundant and widespread Patagonian fish. I studied G. maculatus populations in two important drainages in Argentina: The Negro River drainage in northern Patagonia, and the Santa Cruz river drainages in southern Patagonia. G. Maculatus exhibits a high degree of plasticity in life history, with diadromous, landlocked lacustrine and landlocked riverine populations and the two river drainages studied differ in the types of G. maculatus populations they harbour. The work I conducted for my PhD assisted in our understanding of the relative importance of migratory behaviour (gene flow and population structure) for the establishment of landlocked populations along these two drainages. My previous experience involved the use of mitochondrial DNA sequences in order to identify larvae of two Galaxias species at the Division of Evolutionary Molecular Systematics at Lund University in Sweden. Currently, I am visiting Dr. Christopher Burridge's lab at the University of Tasmania (Australia), where I am analyzing mitochondrial DNA data with the purpose of improving our knowledge on the phylogeography of galaxiid fishes in New Zealand.

2003 - 2008

My research interests are centered on elucidating the genetic and demographic context for contemporary evolution, and its relevance for management and conservation. I have addressed these questions in a wide range of study organisms, such as corals and their endosymbiotic algae and, more recently, Atlantic salmon. This research typically employs a combination of molecular genetic markers, demographic analyses and population & quantitative genetics theory. My more recent and current involvement with the lab focuses on empirical estimation of the effective metapopulation sizes in spatially fragmented systems.