Dr. Nicole Phillips
Associate Professor
Bio
My research uses molecular approaches to answer questions that are relevant to the conservation and management of threatened, protected, or exploited aquatic species. Many of the projects in my lab focus on sharks and rays, but we work broadly on marine and freshwater taxa, including parasites, fishes, turtles, amphibians, and marine mammals through collaborative research projects. Current research projects include temporal genetic monitoring of sawfishes, wildlife forensics to identify species involved in trade, and using environmental DNA to study the contemporary ranges, abundances, and habitat use of a variety of freshwater and marine species.
- PHD - Murdoch University (2012)
- BS - Murdoch University (2006)
BSC 345/L Marine Biology
BSC 404/L Tropical Ecology in Belize
BSC 418/L, 518/L Avian Biology
BSC 422, 522 Coastal and Marine Management
BSC 439/L, 539/L Marine Ecology
- A review of the utility and application of relatedness and kinship in elasmobranchs, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 2025,
- Rare or rarely sampled? Electrofishing and environmental DNA surveys of the imperiled freckled darter Percina lenticula Richards & Knapp, 1964, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 2025,
- The invisible trade of cryptid yet imperiled guitarfishes, Conservation Biology, 2025,
- A novel ddPCRâ„¢ assay for eDNA detection and quantification of Greater Amberjack Seriola dumerilli and three congeners in US waters: challenges and application to fisheries independent surveys, PeerJ, 2025,
- Assessing confidence in zoological specimen collection metadata for use in scientific studies, Journal for Nature Conservation, 2024,
- Recent expansion of the Atlantic cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) into Bermudian waters, Frontiers in Fish Science, 2024,
- Historical specimens and photographs reveal temporal changes in U.S. Smalltooth Sawfish (Pristis pectinata) maximum size and age class distribtuion over time , Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 2024,
- Environmental DNA evidence of the Critically Endangered Smalltooth Sawfish, Pristis pectinata, in historically occupied habitats in United States waters, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 2022,
- Reviewing the genetic evidence for sex-biased dispersal in elasmobranchs, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 2021,
- Swimming against the flow – Environmental DNA can detect bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) across a dynamic deltaic interface, Ecology and Evolution, 2021,
- English (Native or Bilingual)