Shark biologist and associate professor Toby Daly-Engel and a cadre of students attended the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH) in Pittsburgh this summer. They networked with leading scientists, academics and others and the students presented eight talks on topics touching on shark genetics, modeling, kinship and other areas under study at Daly-Engel’s Shark Conservation Lab.
The meeting dates back more than a century to 1916, when the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists first gathered. Nearly a century later, in 2008, ASIH began to meet with the American Elasmobranch Society, Herpetologist’s League and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.
These societies agreed to establish the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists at which each society has its own business meetings but participates in topical scientific sessions that include papers given by members of all the participating societies.
Daly-Engel, who belongs to the American Elasmobranch Society, has been attending these gatherings for nearly two decades. She said they provide professional growth, important exposure to new research and the opportunity to build or strengthen networks of like-minded professionals.
“This is five days of 15-minute scientific reports by everyone from undergraduates to retired professors. It’s really, really inspiring both professionally and personally,” she said. “The students get inspired by the work and by meeting people, including other students, who are doing research at a similar phase of their careers.”
That networking can be critical for future success.
“To have undergrads working at this level is really rare and a huge an endorsement of our student research program,” Daly-Engel said. “The sooner they can start build their professional network, the more likely they are to get into grad school and stay in the scientific profession.”
Attending the conference with Daly-Engel were post-doc Anna Weber; Ph.D. students Shannon Barry, Eloise Cave (whom she met at a previous JMIH) and Naomi Scott; master’s student Makenna Beehler and Lila Xenakis; and undergraduate students Dylan Gore and Riley Wallace.
Student Papers
Here are the papers Weber and the students presented. Note that * indicates a graduate student and ** indicates an undergraduate student.
Weber, A., E. Cave*, and T.S. Daly-Engel. An integrative model to predict climate change-driven range shifts in marine predators using genomics. Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Pittsburgh, PA
Barry S*., M. Ajemian, C. Bangley, M. Drymon, B. Frazier, L. Garcia Barcia, J. Gardiner, J. Gelsleichter, R.D. Grubbs, T. Guttridge, N. Hammerschlag, M. Heithaus, M. Smukall, B. Strickland, T. Wiley, and T.S. Daly-Engel. Genetic Adaptation to Climate Change Among Nursery Habitats of the Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas). Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Pittsburgh, PA
Beehler, M.B*., I.E. Baremore, D. Gore**, and T.S. Daly-Engel. Phylogeography of Deep-Water Snappers in Honduras and Belize. Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Pittsburgh, PA
Scott, N*, H Pratt, T. Pratt, E. Heist, N. Whitney, and T.S. Daly-Engel. Examining the nurse shark’s (Ginglymostoma cirratum) mating system, dispersal, and response to climate change using next generation sequencing and immunogenetics. Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Pittsburgh, PA
Wallace, R.**, D. Gore**, E. Brasher**, J. Ostapovich**, E. Cave*, M. Agarwal**, R.D. Grubbs, and T. Daly-Engel. Tracing the Inheritance of Immune Genes to Estimate Multiple Paternity in Sandbar Sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus). Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Pittsburgh, PA
Xenakis, L.**, K. Lear, D. Morgan, and T.S. Daly-Engel. Assessing Kinship and Recruitment in the Freshwater Sawfish (Pristis pristis) in Northern Australia. Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Pittsburgh, PA
Cave, E.*, A. Weber, M. Criscitiello, J. Ott, and T.S. Daly-Engel. Predictive Modeling of Adaptive Variation in Tiger Sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) Across the Western North Atlantic. Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Pittsburgh, PA
Gore, D.**, M. Bernanke, and J Gelsleichter. Condition of Young-of-Year Scalloped Hammerheads during Nursery Use in the Tolomato River, FL. Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Pittsburgh, PA
