2025 Texas Groundwate Invertebrate Forum - November 7, 2025 (9 am - 4 pm)
The 2025 Forum will take place on the scenic Texas A&M University San Antonio campus, with the Patriot Casa building serving as the event venue. We will have parking access to LOT 4 with overflow in LOT 2. *See Google map below for directions
REGISTRATION PORTAL: Please try to register by October 31, 2025, we will need to submit an estimated count for lunch and to acquire the parking passes. Thank you and look forward to seeing you at the Forum.
| 9:00 - 9:10 | WELCOME REMARKS - CONFERENCE HOST: LIZ BORDA | ||||||||||
Session 1 (Oral Presentation) - Moderator: Fernando Calderon Gutierrez | |||||||||||
| 9:10 -9:30 | Okan Külköylüoğlu, Ostracod diversity, disturbance, and conservation of springs and groundwater habitats in the Great Basin and Texas | ||||||||||
| 9:30 - 9:50 | Cecilia Fitzgerald-Cook, Detecting environmental DNA (eDNA) of a keystone crustacean in threatened Hawaiian wetlands. | ||||||||||
| 9:50- 10:10 | Tyler Morgan, Gene flow at the microscale in three endangered animals | ||||||||||
| 10:10-10:30 | Muntadher Mashan, Using genomic tools to enhance biodiversity assessments in karst subterranean estuaries | ||||||||||
| 10:30-10:50 | Joseph Aubert, Insect diversity in the hyporheic zone of Texas rivers | ||||||||||
| 10:50-11:10 | Coffee Break | ||||||||||
Session 2 (Oral Presentation) - Moderator: Amelia Hunter | |||||||||||
| 11:10-11:30 | Gabrielle Vaughn, Population genetics and distribution of Typhlatya species | ||||||||||
| 11:30-11:50 | Ramon Villareal, Investigation of 2 potential new species of Cirolanides, a crustacean (Isopoda) found in the Edwards Aquifer. | ||||||||||
| 11:50-12:10 | Andrew Cannizzaro, Light shining into the darkness: phylogenetic analyses of a hypogean crustacean (Amphipoda: Parabogidiella) reveals unique diversity and structuring | ||||||||||
| 12:10-12:30 | Photo Contest - Moderator: Bernard Mbithi | ||||||||||
| 12:30- 1:40 | Lunch (Cafeteria) | ||||||||||
| 1:40 - 2:40 | Poster Session | ||||||||||
Session 3 (Oral Presentation) - Moderator: TBA | |||||||||||
| 2:40 - 3:00 | Katherine Bell, Conservation genetics of Stygobromus in Texas | ||||||||||
| 3:00 - 3:20 | Ruben Tovar, Exploring the utility of diceCT in karst and aquifer taxa | ||||||||||
| 3:20 - 3:40 | Pete Diaz, Salamander love rocks | ||||||||||
| 3:40 - 4:00 | Ben Hutchins, The Aquifer Biodiversity Collection at the Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center | ||||||||||
| 4:00 - 4:15 | Student Awards and Photo Contest Winners - Moderator: TBA | ||||||||||
| 4:15 - 4:30 | CLOSING REMARKS - CONFERENCE HOST: LIZ BORDA | ||||||||||
| 4:30 - ? | Burleson Yard Beer Garden?, Aquaduck Beer Garden? | ||||||||||
| Presenter | Title | Summary | Co-Authors | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evan Guerrero | Influence of the hyporheic zone on gene flow in invertebrates in the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer, Texas. | Ongoing research examining gene flow of P. micra throughout the Edward’s-Trinity Aquifer system. | Dr. Kathryn Perez, Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, Dr. Benjamin Hutchins | ||||||||||||
| Danielle Bragg | Spatiotemporal analysis of metazoan community from the subterranean estuaries of the Yucatan peninsula and Cozumel island through metagenomics | The subterranean estuaries of the Yucatan Peninsula and Cozumel Island are among the "best known", and offer a unique study case by limiting geographical variation, yet they are geologically independent. Most studies rely on direct collection of individuals , but here we will conduct a spatiotemporal analysis of the metazoan community through the use of genomics to further characterize the biodiversity of these understudied ecosystems, while potentially detecting previously ignored taxa. | Dr. Elizabeth Borda, Dr. Fernando Calderon-Gutierrez | ||||||||||||
| Erika Frandsen | Relationships between benthic and hyporheic insect communities across environmental gradients in Texas rivers | From 2021 to 2022, benthic and hyporheic insects were sampled across 64 riffle sites throughout 9 rivers distributed throughout Texas, USA. Using this dataset of paired samples, we investigate how the two insect communities (i.e. benthic and hyporheic) are related to one another, determining if the hyporheic community represents a subset of the benthic community and how the proportion of insects differ in the two communities. | Benjamin F. Schwartz, Benjamin T. Hutchins, Weston H. Nowlin, Todd Swannack, Miranda Sams, Kierra Determan, Kirby Wright, Jessica Kittridge, Catherine Cline | ||||||||||||
| Connor Grizzle | Toward Speleogenomic Pipelines: Characterizing Biodiversity from Species to Communities | Low pass whole genome sequencing (LPWGS), also known as genome skimming, is both affordable and a viable alternative to traditional PCR based DNA Barcoding approaches for biodiversity inventories. The study presents speleogenomic pipelines to characterize individual organisms to communities generating robust data for multi-gene species delimitation, phylogenetic reconstruction, and wholistic community characterization. | Marci Casias, Marco Rodriguez, Fernando Calderón-Gutiérrez & Elizabeth Borda | ||||||||||||
| Kamryn Richard | Work with Ozark Cave Fauna | Center for Conservation & Research at San Antonio Zoo (CCR) has been working with imperiled and endangered cave fauna from the Ozarks since 2000 with a large, well developed regional team. This poster provides an overview of the field work and lab work we are doing to better understand and conserve cave fauna and highlights our focus on state listed cave crayfish species in Oklahoma. Combining field studies with lab studies is critical to best conserve the fauna of this region. | Danté Fenolio |
First Annual TGIF Photo/Art Contest
Calling all photographers, artists, and creatives!
Help us celebrate the biodiversity of Texas’ underground ecosystems by submitting your best photo, drawing, painting, or digital art inspired by groundwater invertebrates or subterranean life. [Max 2 submissions per person] Copies of work are acceptable and encouraged for display at the Forum or you can submit an electronic copy for display on the meeting overhead screen. Submit copy to vc05@txstate.edu Photo/Art sign up here!
IMPORTANT DATES: Photo/Art Contest Deadline to submit: November 7, 2025 at check-in (no later than 10:00 am)
| Elizabeth Borda - Texas A&M University San Antonio |
| Fernando Calderon-Gutierrez - Stephen F. Austin State University |
| Kathryn Perez - University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley |
| Amelia Hunter - USFWS - Southwest Regional Office |
| Randy Gibson - USFWS– San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center |
| Benjamin Hutchins - Edwards Aquifer Research & Data Center |
| Victor Castillo III - Edwards Aquifer Research & Data Center |
2024 TEXAS GROUNDWATER INVERTEBRATE FORUM
The 2024 TGIF Planning Committee would like to thank everyone that attended and presented.
We look forward to TGIF 2025!
GOAL
To bring together people who are working on subterranean biology so that knowledge and information can be shared and transferred and future efforts to increase knowledge of groundwater ecosystems can be coordinated.
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the organizers of TGIF is to encourage collaboration and exchange of ideas and information, and to more efficiently and clearly convey and transfer information to those who need and/or use it.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
A number of people are currently working on Texas groundwater organisms, however, there is infrequent research coordination and information exchange about the diverse projects and ongoing efforts that can cause barriers for those who want to fully understand groundwater biodiversity, promote efficient dissemination, and effectively use the data for research and management purposes.