RESEARCH
My background is split between fieldwork – namely the identification, capture, and tracking of spotted and barred owls in California, and lab work in Wisconsin – primarily genetic sequencing and analyses. I have had the privilege of participating in a number of projects within the Peery Lab, including marbled murrelet genetics, spotted owl demographics, training researchers in new field techniques, and co-leading our lab’s efforts to remove invasive barred owls from the Sierra Nevada mountains.
In my graduate research, I am utilizing genetic methods to expand our knowledge of the barred owl invasion into California and its potential consequences. By sequencing samples from owls collected in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Klamath ranges, I am identifying kinship-dyads (such as parent-offspring pairs) to estimate previous immigration rates into the Sierras and provide a large-scale look at dispersal distances. I am also working with the digestive tracts of the removed individuals, and applying genetic metabarcoding methods to identify barred owl prey species that may be affected if the ongoing invasion is unchecked.
EDUCATION
M.S. Wildlife Ecology | U. of Wisconsin, 2022
B.Sc. Wildlife Ecology | University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2013
B.Sc. Genetics | University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2013
Larson, R. C., Kirby, R., Kryshak, N., Alldredge, M., McDonald, D. B., & Pauli, J. N. (2018). The Genetic Structure of American Black Bear Populations in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Intermountain Journal of Sciences, 24(1-2), 56-66.
Wood, C. M., Kryshak, N., Gustafson, M., Hofstadter, D. F., Hobart, B. K., Whitmore, S. A., Dotters, B. P., Roberts, K. N., Keane, J. J., Sawyer, S. C., Gutiérrez, R. J., & Peery, M. Z. (2021). Density dependence influences competition and hybridization at an invasion front. Diversity and Distributions.