Peyton Thomas

Bio

Peyton Thomas is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Faculty Fellow in the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. She is interested in how organisms adapt and thrive amid rapid environmental and climate change. She combines lab and field approaches to uncover how molecular, cellular, and behavioral processes shape resilience in fish species such as salmon, trout, and other fishes across Arctic, sub-Arctic, and temperate ecosystems. Peyton also uses environmental DNA to monitor biodiversity and ecosystem health, working to connect this science with community-led conservation and restoration efforts. Her research bridges physiology, ecology, and community relationships with nature to better understand how changes in fish populations transform ecosystems and the communities connected to them. Her current projects focus on climate adaptation in lake trout across Alaska, relationships between Atlantic salmon and Brook trout with aquatic bio- and geodiversity in Québec, and using environmental DNA to track salmonid habitat use in Québec and southern Chile.

Research Interests

• Fish physiology and adaptation to climate change
• Molecular, cellular, and behavioral mechanisms of resilience
• Environmental DNA (eDNA) for biodiversity monitoring
• Community-led conservation and ecosystem restoration
• Socio-ecological connections between people and aquatic systems