CONTACT INFORMATION
    383 Life Science Building
    Louisiana State University
    Baton Rouge, LA 70803
    Phone: 225-578-1740
    Email: abamba1@lsu.edu

My curriculum vitae

RESEARCH
Since coming to LSU, I have completed a study on the status and health of several populations of the endangered Louisiana Pearlshell (Margaritifera hembeli) and submitted that report to the Louisiana Natural History Program. 
I am currently completing a master’s degree in Biological Sciences (Systematics, Evolution and Ecology) at Louisiana State University.   My research focuses on the native freshwater mussels of Southeast Louisiana.  More specifically, I am attempting to quantify the relative influence of microhabitat, riparian and landscape scale processes on the distribution and abundance of these extraordinary organisms.  In the summers of 2004 and 2005, I sampled mussel communities in the Tangipahoa, Tickfaw, and Bogue Chitto rivers and using GIS techniques, I was able to quantify geology and land-use percent coverage for the sub-segments through which these rivers flow. 
Using Factor Analysis, I was able to combine data from three spatial scales and describe how the communities of this area are distributed and why the abundances are high in some areas but low in others.

PERSONAL
            I love to be in the water, if only I had gills!!  I guess it is fitting that I currently reside in New Orleans, Louisiana but I am originally from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  I am planning on graduating in May of 2006 and hope to have a long and productive career in aquatic ecology.

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