Dr. Dannise Ruiz-Ramos

Photo by Todd Dudek

Assistant Professor, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences (SANS)
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)

Phone: (410) 621-2240 | Email: dvruizramos@umes.edu | 

Education

The Pennsylvania State University (2014)
Ph.D., Biology

University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez (2009)
M.Sc., Marine Sciences        

University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (2005)
B.Sc., Environmental Sciences

Research Interests

  1. Environmental DNA
  2. Conservation Genomics
  3. Biodiversity and genetic variation
  4. Invertebrate mass mortalities

Selected Publications

  1. Ballare KM, Worth A, Ruiz-Ramos DV, Beraut E, Nava H, Fairbairn C, Wayne RK, Shapiro B, Short G, Meyer RS. Environmental DNA reveals invasive crayfish microbial associates and ecosystem-wide biodiversity before and after eradication. (2023). Environmental DNA (00):1– 18.
  2. Ruiz-Ramos DV, Meyer R, Toews D, Stephens M, Kolster M, Sexton JP. (2022). Environmental DNA (eDNA) detects temporal and habitat effects on community composition and endangered species in ephemeral ecosystems: a case study in vernal pools. Environmental DNA 5 (1): 85-101.
  3. Pennington LE, Slatyer RA, Ruiz-Ramos DV, Veloz SD, Sexton JP. (2021). How is adaptive potential distributed within species ranges? Evolution 75: 2152-2166. 
  4. Lin M, Simons AL, Curd EE, Harrigan RJ, Schneider FD, Ruiz-Ramos DV, Gold Z, Osborne MG, Shirazi S, Schweizer TM, Moore T, Fox EA, Turba R, Garcia-Vedrenne AE, Helman S, Rutledge K, Palacios Mejia M, Munguia Ramos M, Wetzer R, Pentcheff D, McTavish EJ, Dawson MD, Shapiro B, Wayne RK, Meyer RS. (2021) Landscape analyses using eDNA metabarcoding and Earth observation predict community biodiversity in California. Ecological Applications 31(6):e02379. 
  5. Meyer RS, Curd E, Schweizer T, Gold Z, Ruiz Ramos D, Shirazi S, Kandlikar G, Kwan W, Lin M, Freise A, Moberg-Parker J, Ramos MM, Shapiro B, Dawson M, Sexton JP, Pipes L, Vedrenne AG, Mejia MP, Aronson EL, Moore T, Nielsen R, Lewin H, Barber P, Wall J, Kraft N, Wayne RK. (2021) The CALeDNA program: Citizen scientists and researchers inventory California’s biodiversity. California Agriculture, 75(1) 20-32. 
  6. Klymus K.E., Ruiz Ramos D.V., Thompson N.L., Richter C.A. (2020). Development and testing of species-specific quantitative PCR assays for environmental DNA applications. JoVE (165), e61825. 
  7. Ruiz-Ramos DV, Schiebelhut LM, Hoff K, Wares JP, Dawson MN (2020) An Initial Comparative Genomic Autopsy of Wasting Disease in Sea Stars. Molecular Ecology 29 (6):1087– 1102
  8. Rodriguez L, López C, Casado-Amezua P, Ruiz-Ramos DV, Martinez B, Banaszak A, Tuya F, García A, Hernández M (2019) Genetic relationships of the hydrocoral Millepora alcicornis and its symbiont within and between locations on both sides of the Atlantic. Coral Reefs 38(2): 255-268.
  9. Ruiz-Ramos DV, Fisher CR, Baums IB (2017) Stress response of the black coral Leiopathes glaberrima to crude oil and dispersant. Elementa Science for the Anthropocene 5:77.
  10. Cardona Y, Ruiz-Ramos DV, Baums IB, Bracco Annalisa (2016) Potential connectivity of coldwater black coral communities in the northern Gulf of Mexico. PLoS ONE 11(5): e0156257.
  11. DeLeo D, Ruiz-Ramos DV, Baums IB, Cordes E (2016) Response of deep-water corals to oil and chemical dispersant exposure. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 129:137-147.
  12. Ruiz-Ramos DV, Saunders M, Fisher C, Baums IB. (2015) Home bodies and wanderers: sympatric lineages of the deep sea black coral, Leiopathes glaberrima. PLoS ONE 10(10): e0138989. 
  13. Ruiz-Ramos DV, Baums IB (2014) Microsatellite abundance across the Anthozoa and Hydrozoa in the phylum Cnidaria. BMC Genomics 15: 939.
  14. Ruiz-Ramos DV, Weil E, Schizas NV (2014) Morphological and genetic evaluation of the hydrocoral Millepora species complex in the Caribbean. Zoological Studies 53: 4.
  15. Baums IB, Devlin-Durante MK, Polato NR, Xu D, Giri S, Altman NS, Ruiz D, Parkinson JE, Boulay JN (2013) Genotypic variation influences reproductive success and thermal stress tolerance in the reef building coral, Acropora palmata. Coral Reefs 32: 703-717.
  16. Ruiz-Ramos DV, Hernández-Delgado EA and Schizas NV (2011) Population status of the long-spined urchin Diadema antillarum in Puerto Rico 20 years after a mass mortality event. Bulletin of Marine Sciences 87(1): 113-127.

Biography

Dannise V. Ruiz-Ramos is an assistant professor of Environmental Sciences in the Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Ruiz-Ramos has a Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University, where she studied the genetic connectivity of deep-sea black corals in the Gulf of Mexico. As a postdoctoral scholar with the UC Conservation Genomics Consortium at the University of California, Merced, she used genomics to study Sea Star Wasting Disease and environmental DNA (eDNA) to characterize biodiversity in California’s coast and vernal pools. As a Biologist at the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center in Columbia, Mo., she studied eDNA ecology and its transport and persistence in river systems. 

Scroll to Top