Quantitative Ecologist
mary.mcelroy@briwildlife.org

Mary is a marine ecologist whose research has focused on characterizing range edge dynamics of northeast Pacific marine species, applying environmental DNA-based approaches to monitor marine biodiversity, and exploring differences in eDNA performance relative to conventional survey methods. Her work has spanned both US Atlantic and Pacific coasts and at times taken her to remote locations in Antarctica and the Peruvian Amazon. She is broadly interested in how climate change and other human impacts alter large-scale wildlife distributions and interactions, and tackling the technical challenges associated with characterizing complex ecological responses in marine ecosystems.

Mary joined BRI in 2024 and supports research efforts as a Quantitative Ecologist in the Quantitative Wildlife Ecology Research Lab focused on marine wildlife interactions and impacts related to offshore wind energy development, notably the Offshore Wind and Benthic Change Project and Project WOW. In her previous role as a Marine Staff Scientist in the Center for Research on Offshore Wind and the Environment, Mary provided support for US Atlantic offshore wind stakeholder engagement activities through the New York State Offshore Wind Environmental Technical Working Group.

Outside of work, Mary enjoys exploring mountains and coasts – hiking, climbing, and diving – and eating her way through new places at every opportunity.

• University of California, Santa Barbara, 2024 – Ph.D, Marine Science – Emphasis in Climate Sciences and Climate Change
• Barnard College, Columbia University, 2015 – B.A., Environmental Biology – Minor in Spanish

• Marine spatial ecology
• Offshore wind-wildlife interactions
• Climate-related species range shifts
• Ecological modeling and statistics
• Sequencing-based biomonitoring
• Bioinformatics

Ferguson, MC, EM Adams, ME McElroy, IJ Stenhouse, AT Gilbert, AJ Winship, and KA Williams (in press) Comparing local and regional density models for marine birds in the Gulf of Maine. Marine Ornithology 54(2): xx-yy.

Lato, KA, J Gulka, EM Adams, PN Halpin, J Cleary, ME McElroy, KD Friedland, L Nazzaro, JV Redfern, O Schofield, LH Thorne, and KA Williams (in press) Characterizing marine biotic communities in the U.S. Atlantic in relation to offshore wind energy development. Marine Ecology Progress Series :0-0. doi: 10.3354/meps15218.

Bird Communications Specialist Committee (NY State Environmental Technical Working Group). 2026. Frequently Asked Questions: Offshore Wind and Birds, Version 1. 75 pp. Available at https://www.nyetwg.com/specialist-committees/wildlife-faqs/bird-communications.

Rapid Communications Specialist Committee (NY State Environmental Technical Working Group). 2026. Offshore Wind Environmental Impacts Resource Directory. Available at https://www.nyetwg.com/resource-directory.

Sánchez-Vendizú, P, G Erkenswick, J Reyes, S López Clinton, T Silvestre Espejo, G Cáceres, Z Libke, A Arana, J Mendoza-Silva, C Tirapelle, S Williams, V Swamy, J Martínez-Altamirano, J Esteves, JP Barnuevo-Bullón, J Hernández-Mejía, X Caffo, A Mendevil Malpica, R Salazar-Aragón, L Gutiérrez-Jiménez, J Stabile, N Cuzmar, TD Paine, P Peralta-Aguilar, G Inga-Díaz, J Lescano, A Viñas-Martínez, ME McElroy, D Coayla, L Linares R, NW Pilfold, AJ Sacco, M Arakaki, JL Mena, MW Tobler, L Salinas, C Arana, V Pacheco, S Prost, and M Watsa, 2025. Decoding the Peruvian Amazon with in situ DNA barcoding of vertebrate and plant taxa. Scientific Data 12, 1545. doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-05697-z

Whale Communications Specialist Committee (NY State Environmental Technical Working Group). 2025. Frequently Asked Questions: Offshore Wind and Whales, Version 5. 149 pp. Available at www.nyetwg.com/specialist-committees/wildlife-faqs/whale-communications.

McElroy, ME, TL Dressler, GC Titcomb, EA Wilson, K Deiner, TL Dudley, EJ Eliason, NT Evans, SD Gaines, KD Lafferty, GA Lamberti, Y Li, DM Lodge, MS Love, AR Mahon, ME Pfrender, MA Renshaw, KA Selkoe & CJ Jerde, 2020. Calibrating environmental DNA metabarcoding to conventional surveys for measuring fish species richness. Frontiers in Ecology & Evolution 8:276. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00276

Jerde, CL, AR Mahon, T Campbell, ME McElroy, K Pin, JN Childress, MN Armstrong, JR Zehnpfennig, SJ Kelson, AA Koning, P Bun Ngor, V Nuon, N So, S Chandra & ZS Hogan, 2021. Are genetic reference libraries sufficient for environmental DNA metabarcoding of Mekong River basin fish? Water 13(13), 1767. doi: 10.3390/w13131767