updated Jan-3-2025

Andrew G. Cannizzaro

PhD Program in Ecology, Evolution & Environmental Biology

Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

📱 (412) 613-7177 | 📧 Cannizag@miamioh.edu | 🌐 www.agcannizzaro.com

Education

PhD, ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION & ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY Fall 2025 (expected)

Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

Dissertation: Phylogenetic and biogeographic patterns in Nearctic freshwater amphipods: historical factors permitting diversification in varied systems

Advisor: David J. Berg

MS, BIOLOGY Fall 2018

Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, Tallahassee, Florida

Thesis: Phylogenetic and morphological analyses of the crangonyctid Amphipoda of Florida

Advisor: Thomas R. Sawicki

BA, ZOOLOGY, Fall 2016

Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

Project: Taxonomy of Gammarus spp. in the Chihuahuan Desert

Advisor: David J. Berg

Publications

(* = undergraduate author)

Ascanio, A., Louis, B.*, Cannizzaro, A. G., Fitzgerald, V., Bracken, J., Rodenhouse, N., Crist, T., & Jezkova, T. (in review) Habitat disturbance and multigenerational emergence trends in Brood X cicadas (Magicicada spp.) in Southwest Ohio. Ecology

Sawicki, T. R., & Cannizzaro, A. G. (in review). Florida man exonerated: an amphipod case study on the implications of cryptic species complex and global invasions. Biological Invasions.

Tomoyasu, K.*, Cannizzaro, A. G., & Berg, D. J. (accepted, 2025). Unexpected pathway for intercontinental movement into the Nearctic revealed by phylogenetic analyses. Zoological Scripta.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Lange, C. J., & Berg, D. J. (accepted, 2025). Where have you been? Hiding under a rock? A new species of Hyalella (Amphipoda: Hyalellidae) from a unique habitat within a thermal spring, Journal of Crustacean Biology.

Cannizzaro, A. G., & Berg, D. J. (in press). Oligocene odyssey: molecular phylogenetic analyses describe the origin and diversification of freshwater Gammarus in eastern North America. Journal of Biogeography.

Samsa, Z.*, Yox, C.*, Cannizzaro, A. G., & Berg, D. J. (2024). Slater swap: taxonomic analyses modify distributions of two species of Lirceus Rafinesque, 1820 (Isopoda: Asellidae) and identify a new species from central Ohio, USA. Journal of Crustacean Biology. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae108

Cannizzaro, A. G., & Berg, D. J. (2024) Molecular phylogenetic analyses reveal a radiation of freshwater Gammarus (Amphipoda: Gammaridae) in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 202: zlae108.

Smith, L., Long, R. A., Cannizzaro, A. G., & Sawicki. T. R. (2024). Vicariance and cryptic diversity revealed by molecular phylogenetic analyses of estuarine Gammarus species (Crustacea: Amphipoda) due to formation of the Labrador Current. Invertebrate Systematics 38: IS24003.

Niemiller, M. L., Cannizzaro, A. G., Sawicki, T. R., & Culver, D. C. (2024). A new species of Stygobromus Cope, 1872 (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) from a hypotelminorheic seepage spring in Washington D.C., USA. Subterranean Biology 48: 117–146.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Lange, C. J., & Berg, D. J. (2023) A new species of stygobitic Hyalella Smith, 1874 (Amphipoda: Hyalellidae) from Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada, USA, with discussion of the unique presence of the species in the Nearctic groundwater fauna. Journal of Crustacean Biology 43: ruad073.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Sisco, J. M., & Sawicki, T. R. (2022) Reappraisal of the Crangonyx floridanus species complex, with the description of a new species of Crangonyx Bate, 1859 (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) from northern Florida, USA. Journal of Crustacean Biology 42: ruac027.

Cannizzaro, A. G., & Berg, D. J. (2022) Gone with Gondwana: amphipod diversification in freshwaters followed the breakup of the supercontinent. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 171: 107464.

Hou, Z., Jin, P-Y., Hongguang., Qiao, H., Sket, B., Cannizzaro, A. G., Berg, D. J., & Li, S. (2022) Past climate cooling promoted global dispersal of amphipods from Tian Shan montane lakes to circumboreal lakes. Global Change Biology 28: 3830–3845.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Daniels, J., & Berg, D. J. (2022) Phylogenetic analyses of a new freshwater amphipod reveal polyphyly within the Holarctic family Crangonyctidae, with revision of the genus Synurella and discussion of phylogeography. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 195: 1100–1115.

Walters, A. D., Cannizzaro, A. G.*, Trujillo, D. A. & Berg, D. J. (2021) Addressing the Linnean shortfall in cryptic species: a case study of the Gammarus lacustris complex in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 192: 277–305.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Gibson, J. R., & Sawicki, T. R. (2020) A new enigmatic genus of subterranean amphipod (Amphipoda: Bogidielloidea) from Terrell County, Texas, with the establishment of Parabogidiellidae fam. nov. and notes on the family Bogidiellidae. Invertebrate Systematics 34: 504—518.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Balding, D., Lazo-Wasem, E. A. & Sawicki, T. R. (2020) A new species rises from beneath Florida: molecular phylogenetic analyses reveal cryptic diversity among the metapopulation of Crangonyx hobbsi Shoemaker, 1941 (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae). Organisms Diversity and Evolution 20: 387–404.

Cannizzaro, A. G., & Sawicki, T. R. (2019) Two new species of the genus Crangonyx Bate, 1859 (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) from the St. Marks River Basin with notes on the “Crangonyx floridanus complex”. Zootaxa. 4691: 301–332.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Balding, D., Lazo-Wasem, E. A. & Sawicki, T. R. (2019) A redescription of Hobb’s cave amphipod Crangonyx hobbsi Shoemaker, 1941 (Amphipoda: Senticaudata: Crangonyctidae) including genetic sequence data for mitochondrial and nuclear genes and notes on its ecology. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 132: 73–95.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Balding, D., Stine, M. & Sawicki, T. R. (2019) A new syntopic species of Stygobromus Cope, 1872 (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) from the Dougherty Karst Plain; with notes on Stygobromus floridanus Holsinger & Sawicki, 2016. Journal of Crustacean Biology 39: 407–418.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Balding, D., Lazo-Wasem, E. A. & Sawicki, T. R. (2019) Morphological and molecular analyses reveal a new species of stygobitic amphipod in the genus Crangonyx (Crustacea: Crangonyctidae) from Jackson County, Florida, with a redescription of Crangonyx floridanus and notes on its taxonomy and biogeography. Journal of Natural History 53: 425–473.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Balding, D., Lazo-Wasem, E. A. & Sawicki, T. R. (2018) A Redescription of the Stygobitic Amphipod Crangonyx grandimanus (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) Including Phylogenetically Significant Sequence Data for Mitochondrial and Nuclear Genes. Bulletin of the Yale Peabody Museum 59: 109–125.

Cannizzaro, A. G.*, Walters, A. D., & Berg, D. J. (2017) A new species of freshwater Gammarus Fabiricus, 1775 (Amphipoda: Gammaridae) from a desert spring in Texas, with a key to the species of the genus Gammarus from North America. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 37: 709–722.

Grants and Awards (total = $204,412)

2024, Dissertation Fellowship, Miami University ($26,349; one semester stipend plus tuition waiver)

2022, Species boundaries of Hyalella amphipods in the Great Basin and surrounding regions, US Bureau of Land Management ($169,636)

2022, Small grants program, Ohio Biological Survey ($500)

2022, Fellowship in Graduate Studies, The Crustacean Society ($1,000)

2022, Charley Harper Scholarship (for artists in science), Miami University ($1,300)

2019, Kenneth Jay Boss Fellowship in Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History ($3,027)

2016, Undergraduate Summer Scholarship (research scholarship), Miami University ($2,600)

Conference Presentations

(* = undergraduate author)

Oral Presentations:

Cannizzaro, A. G. & Berg, D. J. November 2024. Species boundaries and biogeography of Hyalella spp. (Amphipoda: Hyalellidae) using ultraconserved elements and traditional genetic markers. Invited presentation, Texas Groundwater Invertebrate Forum, San Marcos, Texas.

Cannizzaro, A. G., Niemiller, M. L., Sawicki, T. R., & Culver, D. C. June 2024. “Wetspots” of biodiversity: Hypotelminorheic seepage springs in Washington, D.C. are revealed to contain unprecedented diversity. Invited presentation, Society for Freshwater Science, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Finn D. S., Dorff, N. C., Fleshman, D. M., Winslow, J. W., Pardoe, C. L., Childers, M., & Cannizzaro, A. G. October 2023. Insights on hyporheiczone invertebrates from six years of work in Ozark Stream. Texas Groundwater Invertebrate Forum (virtual).

Cannizzaro, A. G. & Berg, D. J. October 2023. Distributional patterns and species boundaries revealed through phylogeographic analyses of the amphipod genus Hyalella. Invited presentation, Texas Groundwater Invertebrate Forum (virtual).

Cannizzaro, A. G. & Berg, D. J. January 2023. Shedding light into the darkness: phylogenetic analyses of a hypogean crustacean reveals unique diversity. Central Ohio Phylogeography Extravaganza (COPE), Columbus, Ohio.

Cannizzaro, A. G. & Berg, D. J. October 2022. Shedding light into the darkness: phylogenetic analyses of a hypogean crustacean reveals unique diversity. Invited presentation, Texas Groundwater Invertebrate Forum (virtual).

Cannizzaro, A. G. & Berg, D. J. May 2022. Shedding light into the darkness: phylogenetic analyses of a hypogean crustacean reveals unique diversity. Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Tomoyasu, K.*, Cannizzaro, A. G., Sawicki, T. R., & Berg, D. J. May 2022. Using molecular phylogenetics to uncover diversity within the freshwater isopod family Asellidae. Texas Groundwater Invertebrate Forum (virtual).

Cannizzaro, A. G. & Berg, D. J. October 2021. Phylogenetic analyses reveal remarkable diversity within the groundwater amphipod species Parabogidiella americana (Amphipoda: Parabogidiellidae). Texas Groundwater Invertebrate Forum (virtual).

Cannizzaro, A. G. & Sawicki, T. R. March 2019. Molecular genetic data reveals cryptic diversity among common stygobitic species within the Floridan Aquifer. Florida Academy of Sciences, Melbourne, Florida.

Cannizzaro, A. G. & Sawicki, T. R. March 2018. Phylogenetic and morphological analyses of the crangonyctid amphipods of Florida. Florida Academy of Sciences, Miami, Florida.

Poster presentations:

McKillop, S.*, Cannizzaro, A. G., & Berg, D. J. November 2024. What lies beneath? Hyporheic invertebrate community structure in southwestern Ohio streams. Texas Groundwater Invertebrate Forum, San Marcos, Texas.

Childs, K. E.*, Cannizzaro, A. G., Burns, M. P. A., & Berg, D. J. May 2022. Cryptic species and endemicity in the amphipod genus Hyalella from isolated springs in the Chihuahuan Desert. Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting (virtual).

Plaugher, M.*, Cannizzaro, A. G., & Berg, D. J. April 2022. Using molecular biology to conduct biogeographic analysis of the Gammarus lacustris species complex in North America. Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, Oxford, Ohio.

Samsa, Z. J.*, Childs, K. E.*, Cannizzaro, A. G., Jones, M. P., Hein S. R., & Berg, D. J. April 2020. Geometric morphometric analyses reveal morphological variation among a complex of sphaeriid bivalves in New Mexico, USA. Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society (virtual).

Cannizzaro, A. G.*, Walters, A. D., Berg, D. J. March 2016. A New Species of Freshwater Gammarus from Terrell County Texas. Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference, Oxford, Ohio.

Professional Memberships

Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society

Society for Freshwater Science

The Crustacean Society

The Systematics Association

Professional Service

2022-2023, President, BIOGSA (biology department graduate student association, Miami University.

2023-2024, Graduate student member, Search Committee for Plant Systematist / Biologist, Miami University Department of Biology

Reviewer: Arthropoda Selecta, Invertebrate Systematics, Journal of Subterranean Biology, Western North American Naturalist, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

Teaching and Mentoring Experience

Laboratory Instructor

Invertebrate Zoology (BIO 312), Miami University, Spring semester 2021, 2022, 2023

Upper-level undergraduate course covering invertebrate morphology, diversity, evolutionary history, and taxonomy with an emphasis on local fauna.

Biological Concepts (BIO 115), Miami University, Fall semester 2019

Introductory undergraduate course integrating study of microbes, plants, and animals, while emphasizing biological diversity and the interdependence of life and environment, with an additional focus on writing.

Laboratory Assistant

General Biology II (BSC 1011), Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Fall semester 2018

Second year undergraduate course examining protist, fungal, plant, and animal biology with a focus on biodiversity and evolutionary history.

Invertebrate Zoology (BIO 312), Miami University, Fall 2016

Upper-level undergraduate course covering invertebrate morphology, diversity, evolutionary history, and taxonomy with an emphasis on local fauna.

Mentoring

Graduate Assistant, Berg Lab, Department of Biology, Miami University, Fall 2019–present

Mentored 10 undergraduate students (Savana Beckham, Kayla Childs, Zach Samsa, Malorie Plaugher, Kye Tomoyasu, Emma Girolami, Ava Thyen, Amanda Schauer, Audrey Swisher, and Sarah McKillop), teaching them laboratory techniques, design and execution of research, and presentation and publication of results for projects examining freshwater crustacean diversity through a molecular phylogenetic lens

Served as graduate student mentor for REU student Charsie Yox (Daemen University) in summer 2022, teaching her laboratory techniques and guiding her REU project “Can Lirceus fontinalis stand the cold? Phylogenetic analyses suggest how the Wisconsin glaciation shaped genetic diversity” which was published in the Journal of Crustacean Biology in 2024.

Graduate Student, Sawicki Lab, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Spring 2017–Summer 2019

Assisted with teaching rotating undergraduates various laboratory techniques.