Daniel Clinton Allen, PhD

DEPARTMENT OF ECOSYSTEM SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT
PENN STATE
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA 16802
daniel.c.allen@psu.edu

I am an aquatic community ecologist who focuses on streams and rivers and the invertebrates that live in them. I grew up in Maine, fly fishing its streams and lakes with my dad, and I've always loved spending time outdoors. I was first introduced to ecology research as an undergraduate at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, where I worked under Dr. Dan Hornbach researching the conservation of endangered mussel species. I received my PhD in 2011 from the University of Oklahoma where I continued to work with freshwater mussels under Dr. Caryn Vaughn, studying how mussel biodiversity loss affect sediment and cross-ecosystem energy flows. As a postdoc under Dr. John Sabo at Arizona State University from 2011-2012, I examined the role of river hydrology in governing the importance of water as a trophic currency in dryland riparian food webs. As a postdoc under Dr. Bradley Cardinale at the University of Michigan from 2012-2014, I studied the effect of riparian plant biodiversity on streambank erosion. From 2014-2016 I was an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University from 2014-16, and at the University of Oklahoma from 2016-2021. In the Fall of 2021 I joined the faculty at Penn State.