Spring 2026 Fellows
Bridger Creel
Program: Ecology & Evolution
PI: Creagh Breuner & Ben Colman
"Untangling the direct and indirect effects of mine-waste on riparian songbird physiology and fitness."
My dissertation investigates how metal exposure and prey limitation from mine waste jointly affect riparian songbird physiology, condition, and reproductive success in the Clark Fork River Superfund complex. Across a restoration gradient, I combine multi-species nest monitoring with measures of blood metals, diet (DNA metabarcoding and stable isotopes), telomere length, and glucocorticoid hormones to link mine-waste contaminants and riparian food webs to avian condition, physiology, and fitness. The IoE DIG would support final telomere qPCR assays and publication costs, removing a final barrier to the timely completion and broad dissemination of my dissertation research.
Bridger's UM profile page
The Colman Lab website
Nelle Jenkins
Program: Wildlife Biology
PI: Angie Luis
"Integrating stress physiology, immune function, and viral burden in free-ranging deer mice."
Despite longstanding assumptions that stress alters immune function and disease outcomes, few studies have mechanistically linked stress-associated phenotypes to immune variation in free-ranging wildlife. The Sin Nombre virus – deer mouse system provides a powerful model for examining how ecological stressors shape immune regulation and disease dynamics. By incorporating a quantitative measure of infection burden and transcriptomic profiling of key physiological phenotypes, I will evaluate how stress-related immune variation corresponds to SNV infection. This integrative framework advances mechanistic understanding of stress-immunity interactions in wildlife disease ecology.
Last updated on January 28, 2026