I am interested in animal adaptations to harsh environments with a focus on cavefishes and anglerfishes. I use phylogenomics, comparative genomics, morphology, and physiology (sensory perception) to better understand the adaptations of fishes to the unique demands of lightless environments including caves and the deep sea. My research is driven by a passion for maintaining biodiversity of organisms, particularly those that are adapted to environments at-risk for anthropogenic disturbance like groundwater aquifers. 

• Hart, P.B., M.L. Niemiller, E.D. Burress, W.B. Ludt, J.W. Armbruster, and P. Chakrabarty. (2020) Cave-adapted evolution in the North American amblyopsid fishes inferred using phylogenomics and geometric morphometrics. Evolution. DOI: 10.1111/evo.13958
• Crawford, C.H., Z.S. Randall, P.B. Hart, L.M. Page, P. Chakrabarty, and B.E. Flammang. (2020) Skeletal and muscular pelvic morphology of hillstream loaches (Cypriniformes: Balitoridae). Journal of Morphology. DOI: 10.1002/jmor.21247
• Burress, P.B.H., E.D. Burress, J.W. Armbruster. (2017) Body shape variation within the Southern Cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus (Percopsiformes: Amblyopsidae). 2017. Zoomorphology. DOI: 10.1007/s00435-017-0360-0.
• Armbruster, J.W., M.L. Niemiller, and P.B. Hart. (2016) Morphological evolution of the Cave-, Spring- and Swampfishes of the Amblyopsidae (Percopsiformes). Copeia. 104: 763-777. DOI: 10.1643/CI-150339.
• Niemiller, M.L., K.S. Zigler, P.B. Hart, B.R. Kuhajda, J.W. Armbruster, B.N. Ayala, and A.S. Engel. (2016) First record of a stygobiotic fish (Percopsiformes: Amblyopsidae: Typhlichthys) from the Appalachians karst region in the eastern United States. Subterranean Biology. Subterranean Biology 20: 39-50. DOI: 10.3897/subtbiol.20.9693.