Bradley Erdman

I joined the Evolutionary Applications Laboratory (Kinnison Lab) in the fall of 2016.  Prior to joining the EvoApps Lab, I earned a pair of Bachelor’s of Science degrees in Biology and Fisheries and Water Resources as well as a pair of minors in Aquaculture and Water Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

During the early stages of my college career, I never dreamt that I would be pursuing a career in conservation genetics; however, an opportunity working in the Molecular Conservation Genetics Laboratory (MCGL) as part of the Wisconsin Cooperative Fishery Research Unit would quickly change all of that.  While working in the MCGL I had the opportunity to collaborate with a fantastic group of people and utilize molecular markers to answer a variety of management-based questions.  It didn’t take long before the simplistic intricacies of DNA had enraptured me.

My dissertation is largely ambiguous at the time of this writing, but some early trajectories are:

• Using mathematical models to detect the introgression of exogenous hatchery-reared brook trout alleles into wild populations
• Studying the eco-evolutionary dynamics of Arctic charr in wild populations and quantifying rates of evolution across contemporary timescales
• Using pedigree analysis to determine the heredity and heritability of Arctic charr traits