Associate Professor
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Appalachian Laboratory
Email: hilderbrand@al.umces.edu
Phone: 301-689-7141

Visit Robert's Research Website

Research Disciplines:

• Aquatic
• Aquatic Ecology
• Conservation
• Restoration Ecology

Research Interests:

monitoring, assessment, eDNA, fish, benthic invertebrates, land use,

View Robert's CV

---

Biographical Sketch

Bob Hilderbrand is an associate professor at the Appalachian Laboratory. While he has very broad interests in both basic and applied science, most of his research comes back to actionable science involving the conservation, management, or restoration of wadeable streams and their biota. His work has substantively contributed to recovery and management plan actions for protecting rare, threatened, and endangered species; the delisting of an endangered species; and additional legal protections to Maryland’s coldwater streams. Much of his current research involves the responses of fish, aquatic invertebrates, and overall stream ecological condition to land use and landscape change, including stream restorations. He is also very involved in developing and testing applications from high throughput, next generation DNA sequencing data for stream monitoring and assessment.

---

Education

---

Ongoing and Recent CESU Projects

---

Other Research

• Environmental DNA monitoring of the invasive freshwater diatom, Didymosphenia geminate in Mid-Atlantic waters.
• From genes to ecosystems: Integrating measures of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem health within urbanizing Bay watersheds.
• Quantifying the ecological uplift and effectiveness of differing stream restoration approaches in Maryland.
• Analysis of the Savage River brook trout monitoring.
• SHA stream restoration assessment projects.
• Determining realistic expectations for ecological uplift in urban stream restorations.

---