Geneva York

Curriculum Vitae (click here)

I joined the Evolutionary Applications Lab (Kinnison lab) in Fall 2015.  Before coming to the lab I worked at the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research to confirm environmental conditions that cue reproduction in the red alga, Palmaria palmata, as well as working with the Brawley lab to determine the reproductive phenology of several Maine macroalgae.  I earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from UMaine.

I am currently developing primer/probe sets for 5 Centrarchid (bass/sunfish) species present in Maine waters for future use in environmental DNA (eDNA) detection.  During my research I plan to test the effectiveness of the primer/probe sets to locate fish, as well as test them against Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife unconfirmed angler reports and invasive fish tracking list.  I hope to show the effectiveness of this technique at locating fish, even in habitats where they are potentially newly (and illegally) introduced and where the population may consist of only a few individuals.