Welcome to the Barnes Lab at Texas Tech University!

Our research is rooted in community ecology, predicting and explaining species distributions and dispersal in aquatic systems. We are particularly interested in forecasting biological invasions– the movement of species beyond their historic native ranges– and conducting research that advances methodologies for the study and management of invasive species and the communities they impact. We utilize a broad set of tools to address many different types of ecological questions, so our research approaches include predicting species occurrence with species distribution models and geographic information systems (GIS), detecting rare species through environmental DNA (eDNA) surveillance, and investigating species impacts through field observations and laboratory experiments.

Lab members from left to right: Beth Roesler, Kelbi Delaune, Hayden Hays, Mark Johnson, Matthew Barnes, Kristin Kabat, and Sadie Roth