Amaryllis Adey
Graduate Student
Contact: aadey@nd.edu
Website: amaryllisadey.com
I am a Ph.D student studying the ecology of coastal wetlands in Alaska and the Great Lakes. My dissertation research is focused aquatic community structure and composition.
My dissertation work in Alaska uses data gathered from ponds in the Copper River Delta and the Yakutat Forelands. In the Copper River Delta, I am exploring how food webs are responding to the invasive plant Elodea. Since its initial introduction to Eyak Lake in 1982, Elodea has spread across the delta. I am using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen to assess how food webs have responded to this invasion in space and time. Additionally, I am using ponds in both the Copper River Delta and Yakutat Forelands to look at how pond temperatures are expected to change in response to increasing temperatures over coming decades. I am particularly interested in the implications of these changes for salmon populations which are economically and culturally important for native Alaskans, commercial fishers, and ecotourism.
Simultaneously, I am conducting separate research in conjunction with the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program. One project assesses macroinvertebrate diversity in these coastal wetlands. I am looking at spatial diversity patterns using alpha, beta, and gamma diversity metrics.
Outside of my research, I also assist and mentor undergraduate students. During my time at the University of Notre Dame, I have mentored 10 undergraduate students on research projects and 3 undergraduate students in professional development programs. I have also taught a handful of laboratory courses. These experiences mentoring and teaching undergraduate students are highly enjoyable and rewarding for me.
Prior to starting at the University of Notre Dame, I earned a B.S. in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington and a M.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Eric Larson. My masters work used rusty crayfish to look at applications of stable isotopes and to test the relationship between intraspecific competition and individual specialization.