Director, Powdermill Field Station and Nature Reserve
Rea Curator of Conservation Biology
Biography
Mary Janecka oversees operations, research, and education at Powdermill Nature Reserve (PNR). In addition to her role as director, she is a conservation biologist and landscape geneticist studying host-parasite biodiversity and evolution in complex geographic mosaics. Ongoing projects in the lab include investigating brook trout declines and gill lice transmission, epidemic mange infection in Pennsylvania furbearers, and conservation genetics of Evening Grosbeaks. She co-mentors students through partnerships with universities, including Duquesne University, Chatham University, and the University of Texas at El Paso. Mary joined Powdermill from the University of Texas at El Paso, where she was an Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Curator of Ichthyology and Parasitology.
Past work:
National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biology: University of Pittsburgh
PhD: Texas A&M University
MS: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
BS: Emporia State University
Lab Website: https://maryjanecka.wixsite.com/janeckalab
Peer Reviewed Publications
Kramp, RD, Janecka, MJ, Tardent, N, Jokela, J, Kohl, K, Stephenson, JF (2025). Artificial Selection and the Skin Microbiome Independently Predict Parasite Resistance. Accepted. Ecology and Evolution.
Janecka MJ, Clark DR, Duthoy O*, Criscione CD (2025) Host dietary niche and site location on the river continuum shape trematode (Renifer aniarum) infection patterns in sympatric watersnakes (Nerodia spp.). International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife. Https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2025.101144
Rudzki EN, Kuebbing S, Clark DR*, Gharaibeh B, Janecka MJ, Kramp R*, Ohmer M, Turcotte MM, Richards-Zawacki C (2022) A guide for developing a field research safety manual that explicitly considers risk for marginalized identities in the sciences. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13970
Walsman J, Janecka MJ, Clark DR, Kramp R*, Rovenolt F, Mohammed RS, Patrick R, Cressler C, Stephenson JF. (2022) Shoaling guppies evade predation but have deadlier parasites. Nature Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01772-5
Marsh C, Sica Y … Janecka MJ, .… Jetz W. (2022) Expert range maps of global mammal distributions harmonised to three taxonomic authorities. Journal of Biogeography. Https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14330
Janecka MJ, Rovenolt F*, Stephenson JF (2021) How does host social behavior drive parasite non-selective evolution from the within-host to the landscape-scale? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 75:150. Https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-021-03089-y
Janecka MJ, Janecka JE, Haines AM, Michaels A*, Criscione CD (2021) Post-delisting genetic monitoring reveals population subdivision along river and reservoir localities of the endemic Concho water snake (Nerodia harteri paucimaculata). Conservation Genetics. Https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-021-01391-w
Janecka JE, Janecka MJ, Helgen KM, Murphy WJ (2018) The validity of three snow leopard subspecies: response to Senn et al. Heredity 120:586–590. Https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-018-0052-7
Janecka JE, Zhang Y, Li D, Munkhtsog B, Bayaraa M, Galsandorj N, Wangchuk TR, Karmacharya D, Li J, Lu Z, Uulu KZ, Gaur A, Kumar S, Kumar K, Hussain S, Muhammad G, Jevit M, Hacker C, Burger P, Wultsch C, Janecka MJ, Helgen, K, Murphy WJ, Jackson R (2017) Range-wide snow leopard phylogeography supports three subspecies. Journal of Heredity 108:597–607. Https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esx044
Janecka MJ, Brush T (2014) Differential response by bronzed cowbirds to songs of potential hosts in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The Southwestern Naturalist 59:556–561. Https://doi.org/10.1894/EKL-03.1
Janecka (nee Gorton) MJ, Kasl EL, Detwiler JT, Criscione CD (2012) Testing local-scale panmixia provides insights into the cryptic ecology, evolution, and epidemiology of metazoan animal parasites. Parasitology 139:981–997. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182012000455
In review
Burda K., Janecka MJ., Mohammed RS., Clark DR., Kramp R D, Radwan J, Konczal M. Interplay between purging and admixture shapes genetic load in an invasive guppy population. BioRxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.12.675788
Preprints
Janecka MJ, Janecka JE and Criscione CD. (2022). Parasite gene flow in riverine habitats: ascertaining the roles of stream drift, river bifurcations and host dispersal. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.21.508869
Book Chapters, Reports, and Manuals
Kuebbing S, Clark DR, Gharaibeh B, Janecka MJ, Kohl K, Kramp R, Ohmer M, Olmstead C, Peralta Martinez K, Rudzki E, Turcotte MM, and Richards-Zawacki C. Field Safety Manual. University of Pittsburgh. Https://www.ple.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/Documents/pitt_biological_sciences_field_safety_manual.pdf
Janecka JE and Janecka MJ. 2018. Order Dermoptera. Family Cynocephalidae (Colugos). Pp 272-287. In: the Handbook of the Mammals of the World, Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos, Volume 8 (D. Wilson editor). Lynx Edicon, Barcelona, Spain. Book Chapter.
Janecka MJ and Criscione CD. 2016. Post-delisting demographic and genetic monitoring of the Concho watersnake (Nerodia paucimaculata): Final Report. Section Six Grant E-145: Endangered Species Monitoring. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
