Invasive species create risks to ecological communities. Recently, in Puerto Rico, sharptooth walking catfish (Clarias batrachus) were discovered as a new invasive species. This project is using environmental DNA (eDNA) to sample streams and help inform where physical removal efforts of this invasive species could best be allocated.
Amanda Rosenberger, PhD
Amanda is the Assistant Unit Leader of the Tennessee Fisheries CRU. She is from Virginia. Her research interests are in the ecology and conservation of freshwater species, including fish, crayfish, and mussels, with an emphasis on the role of ecological processes in shaping aquatic species' distributions, population characteristics, and community structure.
Research Interests
Amanda's research interests are in the ecology and conservation of freshwater fishes with an emphasis on the role of ecological processes in shaping fish distributions, population characteristics, and community structure. Conservation problems are best addressed at multiple scales; therefore, she is interested in the spatial and temporal dynamics of these patterns at both local and landscape scales. She is particularly interested in investigating mechanistic relationships between fish and physical and biotic features of the environment and how human intervention, nonnative species, and climate change can alter those relationships.
Teaching Interests
- Fish Ecology
- Introduction to Fisheries
- Experiential Learning
- Landscape Ecology
- Community Ecology
Science and Products
O Romeo! Environmental DNA could prevent a tragedy for the elusive Chucky Madtom
Using environmental DNA (eDNA) surveillance methods, we report the first evidence of the persistence of the Chucky Madtom (Noturus crypticus) in Little Chucky Creek, Tennessee, which has been absent from conventional surveys since 2004, and in Dunn Creek, Tennessee, where it was last collected in 1940.
A comprehensive freshwater mussel database for the Duck River Drainage, Tennessee
We have developed a comprehensive database for freshwater mussels for the Duck River drainage in Tennessee, including its largest tributary, the Buffalo River. This database is intended to serve as an expandable template that could be applied statewide. The Duck River is one of the most biologically diverse rivers in the world, with historically over 70 mussel species, and it has been selected as...
Environmental DNA reveals invasion of Puerto Rican waterways by non-native Clarias catfish
The Sharptooth walking catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is native to parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa but is one of the world's most invasive freshwater fish species. The species’ ability to invade is partly due to its ability to breathe atmospheric oxygen, thereby avoiding hypoxia or poor water quality in receiving waterbodies; further, it can crawl over moist land to disperse to new...
Environmental DNA (eDNA) surveillance of the federally threatened Slender Chub (Erimystax cahni) in the Clinch River and Powell River
USGS researchers at the Tennessee Fishery Research Unit are using eDNA sampling to determine if slender chub exists or could be restored. The slender chub (Erimystax cahni) is a federally threatened fish native to and geographically restricted to eastern North America. More specifically, the Powell, Clinch, and lower Holston Rivers in Tennessee were historical collection areas. Habitat degradation...
Use of a riverscape-scale model of fundamental physical habitat requirements for freshwater mussels to quantify mussel declines in a mining-contaminated stream: the Big River, Old Lead Belt, Southeast Missouri
USGS researchers are using riverscape-scale models for freshwater mussels as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process in Big River, Missouri.
Arctic Lake Food Webs
From 2011 to 2013 we investigated freshwater food webs of Arctic Coastal Plain lakes in Alaska to improve our understanding how Arctic freshwater food webs may respond to landscape change the warmer, drier future.
Sharptooth walking catfish
Invasive species create risks to ecological communities. Recently, in Puerto Rico, sharptooth walking catfish (Clarias batrachus) were discovered as a new invasive species. This project is using environmental DNA (eDNA) to sample streams and help inform where physical removal efforts of this invasive species could best be allocated.
Science and Products
O Romeo! Environmental DNA could prevent a tragedy for the elusive Chucky Madtom
Using environmental DNA (eDNA) surveillance methods, we report the first evidence of the persistence of the Chucky Madtom (Noturus crypticus) in Little Chucky Creek, Tennessee, which has been absent from conventional surveys since 2004, and in Dunn Creek, Tennessee, where it was last collected in 1940.
A comprehensive freshwater mussel database for the Duck River Drainage, Tennessee
We have developed a comprehensive database for freshwater mussels for the Duck River drainage in Tennessee, including its largest tributary, the Buffalo River. This database is intended to serve as an expandable template that could be applied statewide. The Duck River is one of the most biologically diverse rivers in the world, with historically over 70 mussel species, and it has been selected as...
Environmental DNA reveals invasion of Puerto Rican waterways by non-native Clarias catfish
The Sharptooth walking catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is native to parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa but is one of the world's most invasive freshwater fish species. The species’ ability to invade is partly due to its ability to breathe atmospheric oxygen, thereby avoiding hypoxia or poor water quality in receiving waterbodies; further, it can crawl over moist land to disperse to new...
Environmental DNA (eDNA) surveillance of the federally threatened Slender Chub (Erimystax cahni) in the Clinch River and Powell River
USGS researchers at the Tennessee Fishery Research Unit are using eDNA sampling to determine if slender chub exists or could be restored. The slender chub (Erimystax cahni) is a federally threatened fish native to and geographically restricted to eastern North America. More specifically, the Powell, Clinch, and lower Holston Rivers in Tennessee were historical collection areas. Habitat degradation...
Use of a riverscape-scale model of fundamental physical habitat requirements for freshwater mussels to quantify mussel declines in a mining-contaminated stream: the Big River, Old Lead Belt, Southeast Missouri
USGS researchers are using riverscape-scale models for freshwater mussels as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process in Big River, Missouri.
Arctic Lake Food Webs
From 2011 to 2013 we investigated freshwater food webs of Arctic Coastal Plain lakes in Alaska to improve our understanding how Arctic freshwater food webs may respond to landscape change the warmer, drier future.
Sharptooth walking catfish
Invasive species create risks to ecological communities. Recently, in Puerto Rico, sharptooth walking catfish (Clarias batrachus) were discovered as a new invasive species. This project is using environmental DNA (eDNA) to sample streams and help inform where physical removal efforts of this invasive species could best be allocated.
Invasive species create risks to ecological communities. Recently, in Puerto Rico, sharptooth walking catfish (Clarias batrachus) were discovered as a new invasive species. This project is using environmental DNA (eDNA) to sample streams and help inform where physical removal efforts of this invasive species could best be allocated.