Michelle Jordan

Research Interests

Broadly, I am interested in waterborne pathogens and aquatic infectious disease.  My project within the Bartholomew lab is focused on Manayunkia speciosa, the obligate polychaete host of the fish parasite Ceratomyxa shasta.  I am both a Water Resources Science and Microbiology student and the goal of my project is to determine the hydrologic and geomorphic determinants of M. speciosa habitat.  A proposed method of decreasing Ceratomyxa shasta infection prevalence in the Klamath River is to disrupt the population ecology of M. speciosa by altering the flow regime or adding gravel to the bed.   In order to predict whether such methods would be successful it is necessary first to understand the current hydrologic conditions in which M. speciosa lives.  My project will use surveys of polychaete densities correlated to water velocity and substrate type to model the effects of differing stream flows on habitat suitable for M. speciosa.  

Educational Background

In 2008 I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with B.S. degrees in Zoology and Russian language.  I spent the 2006-2007 academic year studying Russian language and culture at the International University of Moscow, Moscow Russia.  In the summer of 2007 I returned to Russia as a participant in the Tahoe-Baikal Institute's Sumer Environmental Exchange and spent five weeks at Lake Baikal, Siberia exploring the complexities of watershed management.