My name is Dan Killam. I am an environmental scientist working with the Nutrient Management Strategy at the San Francisco Estuary Institute. My work revolves around wrangling huge quantities of environmental data to understand how nutrients influence the health of the San Francisco Bay.
Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Biosphere 2 at the University of Arizona. We are growing giant clams to understand how they incorporate elements in their shells relating to the activity of symbiotic algae in their bodies. I previously was a Zuckerman Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Haifa, studying the effects of climate change and potential tsunami events on bittersweet clams found on the Israeli coast, working with Prof. Beverly Goodman. I completed a PhD in Paleobiology in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, working with Prof. Matthew Clapham to study the ecological and physiological history of bivalves. My work straddles biology and earth science, using stable isotope geochemistry of fossil and modern specimens, ecological modeling and historical data to better understand how invertebrates lived in the past, and how that is relevant to understanding their present ecological stresses.
When I’m not working, I’m obsessed with politics, technology, social justice, music, film, my pet hermit crab, gardening (mostly succulents and carnivorous plants), video games, electric cars, scuba diving, hiking, bird/fish watching, and coffee.
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Clamsplaining 