Biography

Dr. Nicole Phillips is a Senior Marine Scientist at Dauphin Island Sea lab and Associate Professor in the Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences at the University of South Alabama. She came to Alabama in 2026 from Mississippi, where she was an Associate Professor at The University of Southern Mississippi.

Dr. Phillips grew up in the upper peninsula of Michigan, spending the first couple of years of college studying Biology at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, and then Marine Science at Long Island University in Southampton, New York. She aspired to study sharks and decided the best place to do this was Australia, so transferred to Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia.

She holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences, a B.S. in Marine Science (Honors), and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from Murdoch University. Dr. Phillips returned to the Unites States and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) at the University of Miami, with placement at the NOAA NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Lafayette, Louisiana.

CV

Endangered Species Omics Lab

Using genetic tools to conserve the world’s most threatened aquatic species.

The Endangered Species Omics Lab uses genetic tools in diverse ways to fill data gaps for highly threatened, protected, or exploited aquatic species. We specialize in Elasmo Omics, using genetic and genomic tools (“omics”) to study sharks and rays (elasmobranchs), but also work broadly across marine and freshwater taxa with our Environmental DNA research.

Our Elasmo Omics research uses molecular tools to support the conservation and management of sharks and rays, which are among the most threatened vertebrate groups on the planet. We have the technical skills and laboratory workflows to support studies using contemporary DNA and RNA, as well as historic DNA recovered from museum samples. Current research topics in Elasmo Omics include population genomics, genetic diversity and temporal genetic monitoring, wildlife forensics to identify species involved in trade, kinship, reproduction, and MHC immune function.

Our Environmental DNA research leverages genetic material (DNA, RNA) recovered from environmental samples such as water and sediment to study a wide variety of species. Current research topics in our Environmental DNA research program includes the presence/absence, distributions, seasonal patterns of occurrence, broad patterns of habitats use, relative abundances/biomass, changes in distribution over time, monitoring recovery, and supporting re-introductions of aquatic species. Much of this research focuses on highly threatened species of sharks and rays, marine and freshwater fishes, amphibians, freshwater turtles, sea turtles, and marine mammals, as well as commercially important marine fishes.

We also bring cutting edge environmental DNA technology across the world, with research and collaborations spanning North, Central, and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. We can also provide in-field or remote training to support environmental sample collection by local researchers or natural resource managers, with species-specific assay design and sample testing using advanced Droplet Digital PCR technology conducted in the Endangered Species Omics Lab’s Environmental DNA laboratory suite at Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

Who We Are

Current Team

Dr. Nicole Phillips, Primary Investigator
Research interests: Conservation, Population Biology, Ecology, Threatened Species, Sharks and Rays, Environmental DNA, Historic DNA, Genomics.

Kayla McCulloch, PhD student and NSF GRFP Recipient
Development and application of environmental DNA tools for Rhino Rays in data-poor regions.

Bryan Huerta-Beltrán, PhD student
Genomics of Pseudobatos guitarfishes.

Openings

Positions are anticipated to open in early 2027, so check back soon!

Lab Alumni

Graduate Students & Current Positions

• Annmarie Fearing, MS, 2020; PhD, 2025. Visiting Professor at Rollins College
• Emma Humphreys, MS, 2025. Ash Meadows NWR Education Specialist, Great Basin Institute
• Bryan Huerta-Beltrán, MS, 2025. PhD student at University of South Alabama
• Helen Weber, MS, 2022. PhD student at University of Edinburgh
• Ryan Lehman, MS, 2020. Field Service Automation Engineer at Abbott Laboratories
• Katherine Schweiss, MS, 2019. Biological Science Technician at the EPA

Honors Thesis Students

• Amelia Harward, 2025–2027
• Hannah Parker, 2023–2025
• Kylie Faulkner, 2021–2024
• Sarah Toepfer, 2020–2023
• Emma Humphreys, 2019–2021
• Elora Pierce, 2018–2021

Undergraduate Students

• Amelia Floyd, 2025
• Steven Gourley, 2025
• Alexis Gentry, 2024–2025
• Corinne Kemper, 2024–2025
• Yaliana Chichaco, 2024
• Karley Fasulo, 2023
• Lauren Coleman, 2022–2024
• Periann Smith, 2022–2023
• Jayla Jones, 2020–2022
• Camryn Willoughby, 2021
• Megan Hansen, 2020
• Christopher Graham, 2020
• Emma Villemarette, 2018–2021
• Cammey Rich, 2017–2021
• Matthew Aiken, 2017–2020
• Milo Ochs, 2017–2020
• Matthew Thomas, 2017–2018
• Madison Vitale, 2016–2018
• Hannah Ricks, 2016–2017
• Josh Waters, 2016–2017
• LeRoy Martin, 2016–2017
• Elizabeth Dobronski, 2016–2017
• Lindsey Reagin, 2015–2016
• Katherine Schweiss, 2015–2016

Current Research Projects

• U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center, U.S. Department of Defense. Environmental DNA analysis for Smalltooth Sawfish and Green Sea Turtle.
• Save Our Seas Foundation. Sawfish in Guinea-Bissau.
• Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. Use of traditional sampling and environmental DNA to aid in the monitoring and recovery of Alabama Shad (Alosa alabamae).
• Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. evelopment and validation of eDNA methodology for the Dusky Gopher Frog.
• Moore Charitable Foundation. In pursuit of the Largetooth Sawfish along the western coast of Panama.
• Save Our Seas Foundation. Searching for sawfish in northern Peru.
• Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. eDNA surveys for the Eastern Hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) in Mississippi.
• Save Our Seas Foundation. The devil is in the details – molecular identification of guitarfishes sold as “pez diablo”.
• Alabama Center of Excellence. Monitoring and predicting responses of a sentinel marine megafauna to climate change and implications for the tropicalization of the northern Gulf of Mexico.
• Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. Environmental DNA surveys for Piebald Madtom, Noturus gladiator, in Mississippi.
• Save Our Seas Foundation. Clown Wedgefish eDNA surveys in Indonesia.

Publications

2026

• Huerta-Beltrán BL, Pearson L, Humphreys EM, Weber HK, Lehman RN, Gordon M, Ligon D, Kemper C, Krohn A, Nelson H, Dias PJ, Coleman LM, Faulkner K, Qualls CP, Phillips NM (In press) Ghosts of Mississippi: environmental DNA surveys suggest the loss of the Western Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys reticularia miaria) in from the edge of their range. Ichthyology and Herpetology.
• Fearing A, Smith KL, Feldheim KA, Moore ABM, Charvet P, Cruz V, Cooper M, Davies C, Gentry A, Gordon C, Huerta- Beltrán BL, Kemper C, McDavitt MT, Oliviera C, Ricks H, Taylor SS, Wiley TR, Wueringer BE, Kyne PM, Phillips NM (2026) The secret of the saws: historical DNA analysis reveals global genetic diversity loss in a highly threatened aquatic species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 293: 20261044. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2026.1044
• Cubillos-M JC, Fearing A, Chapman D, Kyne PM, Dias PJ, Gonzalez C, Lehman RN, Chichaco Y, Huerta-Beltrán BL, McCulloch KL, Toepfer S, Carlson JK, Phillips NM (2026) One assay to rule them all: development of a global environmental DNA tool to support range-wide surveys of an imperiled sawfish and its application in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Ecology and Evolution 16: e73733. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.73733

2025

• Huerta-Beltrán BL, Zhao H, Mills S, Berry J, Janous W, Ervin J, Butler K, Kalluru A, Valerio F, Fritz V, Stefano B, Selby T, Phillips NM, Everman S, Rosser G, Hobbs C, Bradbury RS, Hearst S. (2025) Zoonotic Baylisascaris procyonis infection in racoons, Mississippi, USA, 2023-2024. Emerging Infectious Disease 31(10): 2013-2016. htts://doi.org/10.3201/eid3110.250658
• Amini S, Feutry P, Phillips NM, Kyne PK (2025) A review of the utility and application of relatedness and kinship in elasmobranchs. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 35:1801-1828. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-025-09983-2
• Daun N, Fearing A, Lehman RN, Gauci CL, Hansen M, Jones JD, Toepfer SM, Huerta-Beltrán BL, Humphreys EM, Schaefer JF, Phillips NM (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 35: e70165. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.70165
• Huerta-Beltrán BL, Drymon JM, Jargowsky AE, Kyne PM, Phillips NM (2025) The invisible trade of imperiled guitarfishes. Conservation Biology 39: e70087. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70087
• Dias PJ, Lehman RN, Huerta-Beltrán BL, Wheeler A, Drymon JM, Hightower CL, Heise J, Switzer TS, Rhode C, Albins M, Powers SP, Phillips NM (2025) A novel ddPCR 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 13: e18778. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.18778
• Fearing A, Faulkner K, Smith P, Humbrecht E, Kyne PM, Feldheim KA, Moore ABM, Brink A, McDavitt MT, Smith KL, Whitty JM, Wiley TR, Wueringer BE, Phillips NM (2025) Assessing confidence in zoological specimen collection metadata for use in scientific studies. Journal for Nature Conservation 84: 126815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2024.126815

2024

• Ingelbrecht J, Bateman RL, Fazeldean T, Lear KO, Lee T, Lymbery AJ, McAuley RB, Phillips NM, Whitty JM, Wueringer BE, Morgan DL (2024) Evidence of long-distance movement of green sawfish (Pristis zijsron) in Western Australia. Marine and Freshwater Research 75: MF24154. https://doi.org/10.1071/MF24154
• Bravo S, Zarate P, Cari I, Clavijo L, Lopez I, Phillips NM, Vidal R (2024) Comparative tissue identification and characterization of long non-coding RNAs in the globally distributed blue shark Prionace glauca. Life 14: 1144. https://doi.org/10.3390/life14091144
• Ingelbrecht J, Lear KO, Phillips NM, Wueringer BE, Lymbery AJ, Norman BM, Morgan DL (2024) Kinship assessment and insights into reproductive behaviour of Critically Endangered green sawfish Pristis zijsron in Western Australia. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 34: e4213. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.4213
• Ajemian MJ, Hampton C, Coleman LM, Jones CM, Pitt J, Smith SR, Phillips NM (2024) Recent expansion of the Atlantic Cownose Ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) into Bermudian waters. Frontiers in Fish Science 2: e1394011. https://doi.org/10.3389/frish.2024.1394011
• Jarva TM, Phillips NM, Von Eiff C, Poulakis GR, Naylor GJP, Felheim KA, Flynt AS (2024) Gene expression and evolution in the Smalltooth Sawfish, Pristis pectinata. Ecology and Evolution 14: e11260. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11260
• Smith KL, Fearing A, Phillips NM, Kroetz AM, Wiley TR, Carlson JK, Taylor SS (2024). Historical specimens and photographs reveal changes in U.S. Smalltooth Sawfish (Pristis pectinata) maximum size and age class distribution over time. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 34(2): e4084. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.4084

2023

• Devloo-Delva F, Burridge CP, Kyne PM, Brunnschweiler JM, Chapman DD, Charvet P, Chen X, Cliff G, Daly R, Drymon JM, Espinoza M, Fernando D, Barcia LG, Glaus K, Garza B, Grant MI, Gunasekera RM, Hernandez SI, Hyodo S, Jabado RW, Jaquemet S, Johnson G, Ketchum JT, Magalon H, Marthick JR, Mollen FH, Mona S, Naylor GJP, Nevill JEG, Phillips NM, Pillans RD, Postaire BD, Smoothey AF, Tachihara K, Tillet BJ, Valerio Vargas JA, Feutry P (2023) From rivers to ocean basins: the role of ocean barriers and philopatry in the genetic structuring of a cosmopolitan coastal predator. Ecology and Evolution 13(2): e9837. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9837

2022

• Lehman RN, Poulakis GR, Scharer RM, Hendon JM, Court AG, Wooley AK, Williams AM, Phillips NM (2022) 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 32: 42-54. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3721

2021

• Phillips NM, Delvoo-Delva F, McCall C, Daly-Engel TS (2021). Reviewing the genetic evidence for sex-biased dispersal in elasmobranchs. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 31: 821-841. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-021-09673-9
• Drymon JM, Schweiss KE, Seubert EA, Lehman RN, Daly-Engel TS, Pfleger M, Phillips NM (2021) Swimming against the flow-Environmental DNA can detect bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) across a dynamic deltaic interface. Ecology and Evolution 11: 22-28. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7101
• Weber HK, Jones CM, Ajemian MJ, McCallister MP, Winner BL, Poulakis GR, Hollensead LD, Zapf D, Swenson JD, Hendon JM, Daly-Engel TS, Phillips NM (2021) Genetic evidence supports a range extension of the Brazilian cownose ray, Rhinoptera brasiliensis, in the western North Atlantic. Journal of Fish Biology 98: 577-582. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.14582

2020

• Lehman RN, Poulakis GR, Scharer RM, Schweiss KE, Hendon JM, Phillips NM (2020) Environmental DNA tool for monitoring the status of the Critically Endangered Smalltooth Sawfish, Pristis pectinata, in the Western Atlantic. Conservation Genetics Resources 12: 621-629. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-020-01149-5
• Schweiss KE, Lehman RN, Drymon JM & Phillips NM (2020) Development of highly sensitive environmental DNA methods for the detection of Bull Sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, using Droplet Digital PCR. Environmental DNA 2: 3-12.

2017

• Larson S, Daly-Engel TS & Phillips NM (2017) Review of current genetic analysis of Northeast Pacific sharks and conservation implications. In: Northeast Pacific Shark Biology, Research and Conservation. Advances in Marine Biology 77:79-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.amb.2017.06.005
• Phillips NM, Fearing AM & Morgan DL (2017) Genetic bottlenecks in Pristis sawfishes in northern Australian waters. Endangered Species Research 32: 363-372. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00815
• Phillips NM, Chaplin JA, Peverell SC & Morgan DL (2017) Contrasting population structures of three Pristis sawfishes with different patterns of habitat use. Marine and Freshwater Research 68: 452-460. https://doi.org/10.1071/MF15427

2014

• Phillips NM & Rosel PE (2014) A method for prioritizing research on common bottlenose dolphin stocks through evaluation of threats and data availability: development and application to bay, sound and estuary stocks in Texas. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-665, 146 p. https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/4811
• Whitty J, Phillips N, Morgan D, Peverell S, McAuley R, Field I, Thorburn D & Simpfendorfer C (2014) Utility of rostra for the identification of Australian sawfishes. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 24: 791-804. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2398
• Gardner MJ, Chaplin JA & Phillips NM (2014) Isolation and characterization of novel microsatellite markers from Pagrus auratus and cross amplification in another sparid. Conservation Genetics Resources 6: 155-157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-013-0031-5

2013

• Gardner MJ, Cottingham A, Hesp SA, Chaplin JA, Jenkins GI, Phillips NM & Potter IC (2013) Biological and genetic characteristics of restocked and wild Acanthopagrus butcheri (Sparidae) in a southwestern Australian estuary. Reviews in Fisheries Science 21: 441-453. https://doi.org/10.1080/10641262.2013.796804

2011

• Phillips NM, Chaplin JA, Morgan DL & Peverell SC (2011) Population genetic structure and genetic diversity of three critically endangered Pristis sawfishes in Australian waters. Marine Biology 158(4): 903-915. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-010-1617-z
• Morgan DL, Whitty JM, Phillips NM, Thorburn DC, Chaplin JA & McAuley R (2011) North-western Australia as a hotspot for endangered elasmobranchs with particular reference to sawfishes and the Northern River Shark. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 94: 345-358. IF: 0.91

2009

• Phillips N, Chaplin J, Morgan D & Peverell S (2009) Extraction and amplification of DNA from the dried rostra of sawfishes (Pristidae) for applications in conservation genetics. Pacific Conservation Biology 15(2): 128-134. IF: 1.30. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC090128