Marissa Kaminski
I am a Biologist at the Upper Mississippi Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC), and I focus on researching invasive species and species of conservation concern using molecular techniques.
I began my studies in wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. Here, I studied macroinvertebrate abundance in restored wetlands and researched waterfowl nesting ecology in Wisconsin. For my graduate degree at the University of Texas at El Paso, I used next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques to study the population genetics of Pacific black ducks (Anas superciliosa) and Philippine ducks (A. luzonica), as well as determine the ecological needs for a small population of Pacific black ducks on the Island of Aunuʻu, American Samoa.
As a Biologist at UMESC, I mainly focus on using genetic techniques to detect and better inform management strategies for endangered species as well as to monitor and control invasive species. Some examples of this are conducting environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding on invasive crayfish, aquatic macroinvertebrates, waterfowl diet, and freshwater mussels, developing eDNA qPCR assays for detecting endangered pollinators, and conducting RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) for RNA interference (RNAi) research into invasive carp.