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Contact Information:
Allison Williams School of Environment and Natural Resources The Ohio State University Mailing Address: 2021 Coffey Road 210 Kottman Hall Columbus, Ohio 43210 USA Email: Williams.7894<at>buckeyemail.osu.edu |
RESEARCH INTERESTS & BACKGROUND:
I received a B.S. in wildlife & fisheries with a minor in mathematics from Frostburg State University in May 2021. As an undergraduate in western Maryland, I worked on projects with a variety of taxa, such as amphibians and fish. For several years of my undergraduate career, I surveyed and built nest boxes for the eastern hellbender. This past summer, I deployed over 50 nest boxes in local rivers where the hellbender is endangered. Additionally, I surveyed for the Maryland Darter, an endemic, endangered species known to occur in tributaries of the Susquehanna River that has not been seen since 1988. As a result of these surveys, this species is now in the process of being declared extinct.
I received a B.S. in wildlife & fisheries with a minor in mathematics from Frostburg State University in May 2021. As an undergraduate in western Maryland, I worked on projects with a variety of taxa, such as amphibians and fish. For several years of my undergraduate career, I surveyed and built nest boxes for the eastern hellbender. This past summer, I deployed over 50 nest boxes in local rivers where the hellbender is endangered. Additionally, I surveyed for the Maryland Darter, an endemic, endangered species known to occur in tributaries of the Susquehanna River that has not been seen since 1988. As a result of these surveys, this species is now in the process of being declared extinct.
My work with endangered species has been influential on my desire to research species that are somewhat discrete, including those understudied or hard to locate. I am interested in what influences the distribution of these species and others. My M.S. project involves creating predictive spatial models for the Lyme disease vector, Ixodes scapularis (black-legged tick), and potentially other tick species as well. Ixodes scapularis has been established in Ohio since 2010 and continues to rapidly spread. I hope to investigate what habitat features influence where these ticks are likely to be, and hopefully predict where they will spread across Ohio.
