Joe Giersch
Invertebrate Taxonomy Experience

for more details, see résumé

Research interests include:

Insect Evolution
Phylogeny of the Trichoptera
Insect Morphology
Macroinvertebrate taxonomy (all aquatic groups, Diptera adults, Holometabola larvae, spiders)
Biodiversity and Biogeography of Alpine Stream Communities

A sampling of projects:

2005-2006 Identified terrestrial pitfall samples from New Hampshire.

2005-2006 Identified emergent stream insect samples from tributaries to Big Creek in the Frank Church Wilderness, Idaho.

2003-2004 Seasonal fisheries technician in Glacier National Park, including gillnetting, gut content analysis, acoustic telemetry and electrofishing.

2002-present Identified macroinvertebrate specimens gut contents of salamanders from the Northeast.

2002- Completed a master’s thesis on: “REVISION AND PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF THE VERRULA AND ALBERTA SPECIES GROUPS OF RHYACOPHILA PICTET 1834 WITH DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES (TRICHOPTERA: RHYACOPHILIDAE)” Entomology class work included: insect identification, morphology, evolution, systematics, physiology, ecology, and pest management.

1997-2004- Contract work includes picking, sorting, and identifying benthic macroinvertebrate samples for projects in the Northwest.

1996-1999 Macroinvertebrate taxonomy technician at Flathead Lake Biological Station, Polson, MT. Constructed relational databases using Microsoft Access to archive specimen records, sort records by search criteria, plot collection localities on maps, and print data labels.

1994- Undergraduate internship with Washington State Department of Ecology. Identified macroinvertebrates from benthic samples for Environmental Investigations and Laboratory Services division.

Taxonomic skills:
-Macroinvertebrate sample collection and preparation, subsampling, and identification.
-Home laboratory equipped with Leica MZ12.5 dissecting microscope (10x and 25x oculars, .5x and 1x objectives, dual necked fiber-optic 1llumination) and Olympus CX41 series compound microscope (brightfield, darkfield, and phase contrast).
-Slide mounting of specimens, including Chironomidae and Oligochaeta.
-Special preparation of specimens for microscopic photography.
-Extensive use of Syncroscopy AutoMontage Digital Microscopy system to create three-dimensional, high resolution, digital images of specimens from a range of focal depths.
-Use of computer graphics packages for the preparation of images microscopic photography for publications and reports.