Nicole Pittoors, Ph.D.
Peer-Reviewed and Pre-Prints:
2026
Pittoors, N. C., S. M. Tweedt, L. J. McCartin, S. A. Vohsen, L. Lopera, S. Mihalek, J. Lai, K. M. Durkin, L. Weigt, M. F. Nuttall, A. Bracco, C. P. Meyer, and S. Herrera. Environmental filtering shapes patch dynamics across isolated mesophotic reefs. Science Advances. 2025. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aeg9582
Submitted to Molecular Ecology-
Pittoors, N.C., Lopera-Garcia, L.F., Glaska, M.P., Vohsen, S.A., West, D., Quattrini, A.M., Bracco, A., Herrera, S. Stepping-Stone Population Structure and Widespread Clonality of the Mesophotic Octocoral Swiftia exserta in the Warm Temperate Northwest Atlantic. BioRxiv 2026.DOI:10.64898/2026.09.01.748044
Herrera, S., A. F. Govindarajan, E. Andruszkiewicz Allan, R. Francolini, E. Frates, L. McCartin, N. C. Pittoors, M. Sengthep, S. Stover, S. Vohsen, and N. Yang. Depth-dependent eDNA abundances across ecosystems inform deep-sea sampling strategies. BioRxiv 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.12.724363
McCartin, L.J., Vohsen, S.A., Wood, A. L., Horowitz, J., Oroszco-Juarbe, J.J., Pittoors, N.C., Morrissey, D.,Vaga, C.F., Hansel, C.M., Collins, A.G., Quattrini, A.M., Herrera, S. Accounting for intra and intergenomic sequence variation in reference barcodes improves eDNA metabarcoding biodiversity assessment. Molecular Ecology Resources. 26, no. 3: e70130. 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.70130
2024
Maloney, R. T.,Ye A. Q., Saint Pre, S-K., Alisch, T., Zimmerman, D.M., Pittoors, N.C., and de Bivort, B.L. 2024. Drift in Individual Behavioral Phenotype as a Strategy for Unpredictable Worlds. eLife. DOI:https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.103585.
McCartin, L.J., Saso, E., Vohsen, S., Pittoors, N.C., Demetriades, P., McFadden, C., Quattrini, A., and Herrera, S. Nuclear eDNA metabarcoding primers for anthozoan coral biodiversity assessment. 2024. PeerJ ; DOI:https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.18607.
2023
Herrera, S., Chadwick, W.W., Jackson, M.G., Konter, J., McCartin, L., Pittoors, N., Bushta, E., Merle, S.G. 2023. From basalt to biosphere: Early non-vent community succession on the erupting Vailulu'u deep seamount. Frontiers in Marine Science. 10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1110062.
2022
McDermort, J.M., Parnell-Turner, R., Barreyre, T., Herrera, S., Downing, C., Pittoors, N.C., Pehr, K., Vohsen, S.A., Dowd, W.S., Wu, J., Marjanoic, M., Fornari, D. 2022. Discovery of active off-axis vents at 9º 54’N East Pacific Rise. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2205602119.
2019
Maciejewski, M.F., Meyer, K.S., Wheeler, J.D., Anderson, E.J., Pittoors, N.C., Mullineaux, L.S. 2019. Helical swimming as an exploratory behavior in competent larvae of the eastern oyster larvae (Crassostrea virginica). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 510: 86-94. DOI: 10.1016/j.jembe.2018.10.007.
In Preparation:
In preparation for Scientific Reports-
Pittoors, N.C., Al-Shaer, L., Linde, H., Johnstone, J., Layden, M., Herrera, S. Epigenetic sex determination and conserved sex-linked genes in the mesophotic octocoral Swiftia exserta.
