Matt Troia, Assistant Professor
I am a quantitative ecologist with research interests in the diversity and distributions of freshwater fishes. I am a Wisconsin native, and have pursued education and research opportunities in Texas, Kansas, southern Appalachia, and the Desert Southwest. In August of 2019, I returned to Texas to begin a faculty position in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Check out my CV for details about my professional journey.
Karmann Kessler, Doctoral Student
Karmann joined the team as a doctoral student in July 2023. She is using lab-based physiology experiments to characterize temperature- and mass-dependence of consumption and respiration of four darter and minnow species endemic to the Southern Appalachians. The goal of this research is to understand elevational range limit of this species and forecast how climate change may shift these limits upslope.
Riley Taylor, MS Student
Riley joined the team as an MS student in August 2025. He is using lab-based physiology experiments to characterize the temperature dependence of metabolic scope for five spring-associated fishes endemic to central and south Texas. Riley is also continuing temperature monitoring in the field that has been going on since 2022. The goal of this research is to estimate thermal optima for these species and determine whether current distributions of these species place them below, at, or above these optima. This research will provide a comprehensive view of spatially-explicit and species-specific vulnerability to warming, which will inform conservation actions to mitigate climate change, land use change, and groundwater management.
Jason 'Jaws' Jaworski, MS Student
Jaws joined the team as an MS student in January 2026. He is using lab-based physiology experiments to characterize temperature- and mass-dependence of consumption and respiration of Southern flounder. The goal of this research is to understand how growth varies along a north-to-south temperature gradient along the Texas Gulf Coast. This research will inform management of Southern flounder stocks along the Texas Gulf Coast and hatchery production at Sea Center Texas and the Marine Development Center.
