My work primarily focuses on utilizing genomic tools to improve management and wildlife conservation outcomes for threatened and endangered wildlife populations. For the last few years, I have been working with the Denver Mountain Parks bison herds to uncover their genetic health and history, mainly to improve management and conservation outcomes both herds. For my dissertation work, I am focused utilizing whole-genome data from members of both living herds, as well as from historical specimens housed at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, to reveal their demographic history and contemporary genomic health. This will have impacts on the current management of the herds, as well as on the indigenous communities that bison are moved to yearly by the through a partnership between the City of Denver and the InterTribal Buffalo Council. In addition to this, I am also working on projects with various groups focused on genetics applied to management, conservation, and historical contexts across different mammal populations, past and present, in Colorado.
Publications: Scheideman, F. F., Ekernas, L. S., & Swallow, J. G. (2025). Genetic viability of small American bison (Bison bison) populations a century after reintroduction. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 6, 1553543. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2025.1553543