Matthew Niemiller, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Biological Sciences Coordinator, BSE Program Contact 301 Sparkman DriveShelby CenterRoom 302MHuntsville, AL 35899 Campus Map 256.824.3077matthew.niemiller@uah.edu Biography Research in the Niemiller Lab focuses on the ecology, evolution, and conservation of life in caves and other subterranean habitats. Studies are often aimed at the ecological and evolutionary processes that underlie the origin and maintenance of multiple levels of biological diversity, from genes to populations to ecosystems, and how these processes ultimately affect conservation status and inform management decisions. Research topics in the lab range from evolution, speciation, and biogeography to spatial ecology and conservation assessments. Across these fields, we combine field observations and experiments with laboratory approaches to population and conservation genetics, and phylogenomics, primarily using subterranean organisms (both vertebrates and invertebrates) and ecosystems as models. Most of the species we study are of conservation concern and, in many cases, federally or state endangered. The ever-increasing risk of biodiversity loss from a plethora of threats, such as urbanization, groundwater pollution, and climate change, adds urgency to our need to understand the ecological and evolutionary responses and resiliency of subterranean biodiversity in the face of environmental change. The Niemiller Lab collaborates with researchers, conservation biologists, and land managers across the United States and around the globe as well as many local, state, and national agencies and organizations, such as U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, Southeastern Cave Conservancy Inc., National Speleological Survey, and San Antonio Zoo among others. The Niemiller Lab is currently accepting M.S. students in the Biological Sciences Program and Ph.D. students in the Biotechnology Program. Current projects include developing and testing environmental DNA (eDNA) assays for state and federally endangered groundwater taxa, examining the persistence of eDNA in subterranean habitats, biological inventories of caves to address biodiversity knowledge gaps, demographic and life history studies of cave-dwelling salamanders, phylogenetics and genomics of cave-dwelling beetles and amphipods, and testing the efficacy of photo-id algorithms for capture-mark-recapture studies of salamanders, among others. Dr. Niemiller received his B.S. (2003) and M.S. (2006) in Biology and Middle Tennessee State University and his Ph.D. (2011) in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He was a Gaylord Donnelley Environmental Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University (2011-2013) and completed additional postdoctoral training at the University of Kentucky (2013-2014) and the Illinois Natural History Survey at the University of Illinois (2014-2016). Before arriving at UAH in 2017, Dr. Niemiller was an associate ecologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey (2016-2017). Curriculum Vitae Research Website Education University of Tennessee, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA. Doctor of Philosophy, August 2011. Advisor: Benjamin M. Fitzpatrick. Middle Tennessee State University, Department of Biology, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA. Master of Science, May 2006. Advisor: Brian T. Miller Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA. Bachelor of Science in Biology, August 2003. Recent Publications Grant EHC, Mulder KP, Brand AB, Chambers DB, Wynn A, Capshaw G#,Niemiller ML, Phillips JG, Kuchta SR, & Bell RC. In press. Speciationwith gene flow in a narrow endemic West Virginia cave salamander(Gyrinophilus subterraneus). Conservation Genetics.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-022-01445-7 Mammola S, Meierhofer M, Borges P, Colado R, Culver D, Deharveng L,Delic T, Di Lorenzo T, Dražina T, Ferreira R, Fiasca B, Fiser C,Galassi D, Garzoli L, Gerovasileiou V, Griebler C, Halse S, Howarth F,Isaia M, Johnson J, Komerički A, Martínez A, Milano F, Moldovan O,Nanni V, Nicolosi G, Niemiller M, Pallarés S, Pavlek M, Piano E, PipanT, Sánchez Fernández D, Santangeli A, Schmidt S, Wynne J, ZagmajsterM, Zakšek V, & Cardoso P. In press. Toward evidence-based conservationof subterranean ecosystems. Biological Reviews.https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12851 Niemiller ML, Davis MA, Tan M, Apodaca JJ, Dooley KE, Cucalón RV,Benito J, Niemiller KDK, Harden R, Thames D, & Istvanko D. 2022.Mitochondrial DNA and population genomics reveal additional crypticdiversity in the green salamander (subgenus Castaneides) speciescomplex. Frontiers in Conservation Science 3: 890859.https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2022.890859 Dooley KE, Niemiller KDK, Sturm N, & Niemiller ML. 2022. Rediscoveryand phylogenetic analysis of the Shelta Cave crayfish (Orconectessheltae Cooper & Cooper, 1997), a decapod (Decapoda, Cambaridae)endemic to Shelta Cave in northern Alabama, USA. Subterranean Biology43: 11–31. https://doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.43.79993 Ferreira RL, Bernard E, Júnior FW da C, Piló LB, Calux A, Souza-SilvaM, Barlow J, Pompeu PS, Cardoso P, Mammola S, García AM, Jeffery WR,Shear W, Medellín RA, Wynne JJ, Borges PAV, Kamimura Y, Pipan T, HajnaNZ, Sendra A, Peck S, Onac BP, Culver DC, Hoch H, Flot J-F, Stoch F,Pavlek M, Niemiller ML, Manchi S, Deharveng L, Fenolio D, CalaforraJ-M, Yager J, Griebler C, Nader FH, Humphreys WF, Hughes AC, Fenton B,Forti P, Sauro F, Veni G, Frumkin A, Gavish-Regev E, Fišer C, TronteljP, Zagmajster M, Delic T, Galassi DMP, Vaccarelli I, Komnenov M,Gainett G, Tavares V da C, Kováč Ľ, Miller AZ, Yoshizawa K, LorenzoTD, Moldovan OT, Sánchez-Fernández D, Moutaouakil S, Howarth F,Bilandžija H, Dražina T, Kuharić N, Butorac V, Lienhard C, Cooper SJB,Eme D, Strauss AM, Saccò M, Zhao Y, Williams P, Tian M, Tanalgo K, WooK-S, Barjakovic M, McCracken GF, Simmons NB, Racey PA, Ford D,Labegalini JA, Colzato N, Pereira MJR, Aguiar LMS, Moratelli R, PreezGD, Pérez-González A, Reboleira ASPS, Gunn J, Cartney AM, BobrowiecPED, Milko D, Kinuthia W, Fischer E, Meierhofer MB, & Frick WF. 2022.Brazilian cave heritage under siege. Science 375: 1238–1239.https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo1973 Gladstone NS, Niemiller ML, Hutchins B, Schwartz B, Czaja A, Slay ME,& Whelan NV. 2022. Subterranean freshwater gastropod biodiversity andconservation in North America. Conservation Biology 36: e13722.https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13722 Niemiller ML, Carter ET, Gladstone NS, Niemiller KDK, Hayter LE, EngelAS, Miller BT, & Fitzpatrick BM. 2021. The distribution, ecology, lifehistory, and conservation status of the Berry Cave salamander(Gyrinophilus gulolineatus). Herpetological Conservation and Biology16: 686–703. Wynne JJ, Howarth FG, Mammola S, Ferreira RL, Cardoso P, Di Lorenzo T,Galassi DMP, Medellin RA, Miller BW, Sánchez-Fernández D, BichuetteME, Biswas J, Boonyanusith C, Borges PAV, Boston PJ, Cheeptham N,Deharveng L, Eme D, Fenolio D, Fišer C, Fišer Z, Gon III S, GoudarziF, Griebler C, Halse S, Hoch H, Katz AD, Kováč L, Lilley TM, Manchi S,Manenti R, Martínez A, Martinez WE, Meierhofer MB, Miller AZ, MoldovanOT, Niemiller ML, Pipan T, Pellegrini TG, Phillips-Lander CM, Poot C,Racey PA, de Rosário IA, Sendra A, Shear WA, Silva MS, Tian M, TaitiS, Venarsky MP, Pakarati SY, Zagmajster M, & Zhao Y. 2021. A roadmapfor the conservation of the subterranean biome. Conservation Letters14: e12834. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12834 Fitzgerald DB, Smith DR, Culver DC, Feller D, Fong DW, Hajenga J,Niemiller ML, Nolfi DC, Orndorff WD, Douglas B, Maloney KO, & YoungJA. 2021. Using expert knowledge to support Endangered Species Actdecision making for data-deficient species. Conservation Biology 35:1627–1638. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13694 Niemiller KDK, Davis MA, & Niemiller ML. 2021. Addressing biodiversitynaivety using project-based learning with iNaturalist. Journal forNature Conservation 64: 126070.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2021.126070