Dr. Daniel Nelson
Watershed Sciences
Research Associate, Taxonomist
Expertise
Biography
Daniel Nelson is a freshwater ecologist who uses both observational and experimental approaches to answer basic and applied ecological questions. His research focuses on the use of macroinvertebrates as indicators of anthropogenic disturbance and climate change. He has a strong background in stream ecology and macroinvertebrate life histories and ecology. Daniel has worked at NAMC since 2020. His work at NAMC has included the development of predictive models for water quality indicators, quantifying uncertainty and bias in macroinvertebrate sample processing, and the use of eDNA in assessing biological condition of stream ecosystems. He has also worked as a taxonomist in the macroinvertebrate identification lab at NAMC. Daniel has an MS in Fishery Resources from the University of Idaho and a PhD in Biology from the University of Alabama where he studied the effects of climate warming on stream ecosystem structure and function. Prior to NAMC, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oklahoma where he studied the combined effects of warming and drying on stream ecosystems.