EIH Researchers Present Findings at AFS 155th Annual Meeting

Environmental Institute of Houston (EIH) researchers Noah Santee, Research Associate, and Kylie Perkins, ’25 MS, Research Intern, represented UHCL at the 155th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) in San Antonio, Texas. They were joined by UHCL Graduate Research Assistant Chelsey Hill, who attended with support from an EIH Travel Scholarship.

Kylie Perkins presented her thesis research, “Fish Assemblages from eDNA Metabarcoding and Electroshocking Across Texas Lotic Systems,” during the session Highlighting the Cutting Edge: Graduate and Early Career Research in Genomics. Her study compared eDNA metabarcoding and electrofishing across 38 sites, revealing that while both methods identified a similar number of species, combining them offers the most complete picture of fish community structure.

Noah Santee delivered a talk titled “Trends in Fish Assemblages Across Geospatial and Temporal Gradients in Texas,” featured in the Ecohydrology and Water Quality for Management Practices session. His analysis drew from 15 years of fish assemblage data collected at 251 sites across 10 Texas ecoregions through the EPA’s National Rivers and Streams Assessment, a long-term project in which EIH has played an active role.

Additionally, one of EIH’s partners presented a collaborative study, “A Collaborative Approach to Assessing American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) Recruitment in Texas,” during the Native and Imperiled Stream Fishes session. This research investigates seasonal patterns and recruitment windows for American eel populations in Texas.

EIH’s strong presence at the AFS meeting highlighted its commitment to advancing aquatic science through research, collaboration, and mentorship.