About Me

I am an aquatic ecologist who is broadly interested in the distribution of aquatic organisms and how community assemblages are shaped by trophic interactions. While I am an avid field ecologist, using datasets that span across both space and time is an important compoent of my work. By combining stable isotope eccology, both fine- and broad-scale spatial data, and temporal population trends, I enjoy characterizing the ecologies of freshwater and marine fishes across scales.

Education

I am currently a postdoc in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at Cornell University.

  • Ph.D. in Ecology, Cornell University (2025)
  • M.A. in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, Columbia University (2019)
  • B.A. Double Major in Marine Science and Environmental Science, Boston University (2017)

Publications

  • Detmer, T.M.*, Airey, M.E.*, Jirka, K.J., Randall, E.A., Zarri, L.J., McIntyre, P.B., Kraft, C.E. (2025). Community-wide transient dynamics of lake fish populations in response to two decades of suppressing an invasive predator. Journal of Applied Ecology. Link
  • Zarri, L.J., Kraft, C.E., McIntyre, P.B., Baetscher, D.S., Jirka, K.J., Randall, E.A., Marcy-Quay, B , St. John, C.A., Sethi, S.A., Airey, M.E. , Detmer, T.M., Flecker, A.S., Therkildsen, N.O.. (2025). Rapid evolution impedes eradication of an introduced predator. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Link
  • Woo, M., Airey, M.E., McIntyre, P.B., Detmer, T.D.. (2025). Lakeshore residential development: A functional comparison of natural and artificial woody habitat at the macroinvertebrate level. Hydrobiologia.Link
  • Airey, M.E., Fogg, A. Q., and Drew, J. A. (2023). Invasive lionfish dispersal between shallow-and deep-water habitats within coastal Floridian waters. Biological Invasions, 1-9. Link
  • Wollmuth EM, Sless TJL, Airey, M.E., France ED, Stump EM, Sundstrom MA, Wilkins RL, and Smith MK. (2022). Is Earth currently undergoing a sixth mass extinction? CourseSource.Link
  • Drew, J., Kahn, B., Locatelli, N., Airey, M.E., and Humphries, A. (2021). Examining stakeholder perceptions of oyster ecosystem services using fuzzy cognitive mapping. Conservation Science and Practice, 3(11), e531. Link

CV