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Hire Dominique C.

France

USD 150 /hr

Environmental DNA (eDNA) & Molecular Biodiversity Scientist | Population Genetics | Marine & Freshwater Ecosystems

Profile Summary

I am a PhD-level researcher with 10+ years of experience in molecular biodiversity monitoring, environmental DNA (eDNA), and population genetics, with a strong focus on marine, coastal, and freshwater ecosystems. I design and implement end-to-end eDNA workflows, from field sampling protocols to bioinformatic pipelines and technical reporting, and have supported international, multi-partner projects through scientific coordination, capacity building, and stakeholder communication. My expertise includes metabarcoding, species detection, community composition analysis, and custom bioinformatic pipeline development. I have worked across academic, governmental, and private sector contexts, and I am experienced in delivering results under real-world project constraints. I am available for consultancy in: biodiversity baseline assessments, eDNA method development and validation, bioinformatic analysis and interpretation, technical report writing, and training/capacity building. Based in Brittany, France. Working in English and French. Available for remote missions and short-term on-site assignments.

Subject Matter Expertise

• ☆ Evolutionary Biology
• ☆ Zoology
• ☆ Animal Science
• ☆ Animal Genetics
• ☆ Molecular Biology
• ☆ Genetics
• ☆ Omics
• ☆ Genomics
• ☆ DNA Sequencing
• ☆ Molecular Ecology
• ☆ Marine Biology
• ☆ Data Analysis
• ☆ Data Processing
• ☆ Big Data Analytics
• ☆ Bioinformatics
• ☆ Structural Bioinformatics
• ☆ Ecology
• ☆ Biological Taxonomy/Classification
• ☆ Population Genetics
• ☆ R

Services

• Writing
• Research
• Consulting
• Data & AI

Writing Technical Writing, General Proofreading & Editing

Research Feasibility Study, Fact Checking, Scientific and Technical Research, Systematic Literature Review

Consulting Scientific and Technical Consulting

Data & AI Statistical Analysis, Image Processing, Image Analysis, Data Visualization, Big Data Analytics, Data Mining, Data Cleaning, Data Processing, Data Insights

Work Experience

Researcher

Company for Open Ocean Observations and Logging (COOOL)

August 2021 - Present

Researcher

Ifremer Centre de Bretagne

December 2017 - May 2019

Ifremer Centre de Bretagne

2017 - 2019

Researcher

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

February 2015 - February 2017

Researcher

Ifremer

September 2013 - September 2014

Education

(Biology)

Pennsylvania State University

- 2013

(College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE)

University of Delaware

- 2008

(Marine Sciences)

Texas A&M University

- 2005

Certifications

• Certification details not provided.

Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Thomas Chevrier, Sylvain Bonhommeau, Michael Thompson, Jessica Farley, Giorgia Del Vecchio, Anne‑Elise Nieblas, Dominique A. Cowart, Jérémie Chanut, Julie Imbert Nguyễn, Serge Bernard, et al. (2026). Correction to: Searching for shared epigenetic clocks: evaluating ultra‑conserved markers in a de novo genome assembly of the albacore tuna . GeroScience.

Thomas Chevrier, Sylvain Bonhommeau, Michael Thompson, Jessica Farley, Giorgia Del Vecchio, Anne-Elise Nieblas, Dominique A. Cowart, Julie Imbert Nguyễn, Serge Bernard, Yann Guiguen, et al. (2026). Searching for shared epigenetic clocks: evaluating ultra-conserved markers in a de novo genome assembly of the albacore tuna . GeroScience.

Thomas Chevrier, Dominique A. Cowart, Anne-Elise Nieblas, Jérémie Chanut, Serge Bernard, Sylvain Bonhommeau (2026). Feasibility of a Close-Kin Mark-Recapture for Stock Assessment of Indian Ocean Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) . Fishes.

Thomas Chevrier, Dominique A. Cowart, Anne-Elise Nieblas, J&#233;r&#233;mie Chanut, Serge Bernard, Sylvain Bonhommeau (2026). Feasibility of a Close-Kin Mark-Recapture for Stock Assessment of Indian Ocean Swordfish (<i>Xiphias gladius</i>) . Fishes.

Dominique A. Cowart, Thomas Chevrier, Anne-Elise Nieblas, J&#233;r&#233;mie Chanut, Alo&#239;s Le Roux, Magali Duval, T&#233;vamie Rungassamy, Serge Bernard, Sylvain Bonhommeau (2026). Environmental DNA data provides taxa-specific insights into community differences across Reunion Island back-reef depressions . Regional Studies in Marine Science.

Thomas Chevrier, Dominique A Cowart, Anne-Elise Nieblas, Gr&#233;gory Charrier, Serge Bernard, Hugues Evano, Blandine Brisset, J&#233;r&#233;mie Chanut, Sylvain Bonhommeau, W Stewart Grant (2025). Population structure of the swordfish, Xiphias gladius, across the Indian Ocean using next-generation sequencing . ICES Journal of Marine Science.

Dominique A. Cowart, Thomas Chevrier, Anne-Elise Nieblas, J&#233;r&#233;mie Chanut, Serge Bernard, Sylvain Bonhommeau (2024). Detecting local variations across metazoan communities in back-reef depressions of Reunion Island (Mascarene Archipelago) through environmental DNA survey . Frontiers in Marine Science.

Keneilwe Thekiso, Tshoanelo Miya, Dominique A Cowart (2023). A preliminary study into the detection of fish environmental DNA in selected South African estuaries . African Journal of Aquatic Science.

Origin, diversity, and biogeography of Antarctic scale worms (Polychaeta: Polynoidae): a wide‐scale barcoding approach <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="0;URL=/servlet/useragent"> </head> . Ecology and Evolution.

(2020). Exploring Environmental DNA (eDNA) to Assess Biodiversity of Hard Substratum Faunal Communities on the Lucky Strike Vent Field (Mid-Atlantic Ridge) and Investigate Recolonization Dynamics After an Induced Disturbance . Frontiers in Marine Science.

(2018). Environmental DNA (eDNA) applications for the conservation of imperiled crayfish (Decapoda: Astacidea) through monitoring of invasive species barriers and relocated populations . Journal of Crustacean Biology.

(2018). Metagenomic sequencing of environmental DNA reveals marine faunal assemblages from the West Antarctic Peninsula . Marine Genomics.

(2018). Development and field validation of an environmental DNA (eDNA) assay for invasive clams of the genus Corbicula . Management of Biological Invasions.

Dominique A. Cowart, Tzen-Yuh Chiang, Lucile Durand, Marie-Anne Cambon-Bonavita, Sophie Arnaud-Haond(2017). Investigation of bacterial communities within the digestive organs of the hydrothermal vent shrimp Rimicaris exoculata provide insights into holobiont geographic clustering . PLOS ONE. 12. (3). Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Localization.LocalizedHtmlString e0172543. Public Library of Science ({PLoS})

(2016). Investigation of population structure in Gulf of Mexico Seepiophila jonesi (Polychaeta, Siboglinidae) using cross-amplified microsatellite loci . PeerJ.

(2015). Metabarcoding Is Powerful yet Still Blind: A Comparative Analysis of Morphological and Molecular Surveys of Seagrass Communities . PLOS ONE.

(2014). Depth-dependent gene flow in Gulf of Mexico cold seep Lamellibrachia tubeworms (Annelida, Siboglinidae) . Hydrobiologia.

(2013). Restriction to large-scale gene flow vs. regional panmixia among cold seep Escarpia spp. (Polychaeta, Siboglinidae) . Molecular Ecology.

Dominique A. Cowart and Chunya Huang and Stephen W. Schaeffer(2013). Identification and amplification of microsatellite loci in deep-sea tubeworms of the genus Escarpia (Polychaeta, Siboglinidae) . Conservation Genetics Resources. 5. (2). Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Localization.LocalizedHtmlString 479--482. Springer Science and Business Media {LLC}

Vera Thiel and Michael Hügler and Martina Blümel and Heike I. Baumann and Andrea Gärtner and Rolf Schmaljohann and Harald Strauss and Dieter Garbe-Schönberg and Sven Petersen and Dominique A. Cowart and Charles R. Fisher and Johannes F. Imhoff(2012). Widespread Occurrence of Two Carbon Fixation Pathways in Tubeworm Endosymbionts: Lessons from Hydrothermal Vent Associated Tubeworms from the Mediterranean Sea . Frontiers in Microbiology. 3. Frontiers Media {SA}

(2011). Effects of Ag nanoparticles on survival and oxygen consumption of zebra fish embryos,Danio rerio . Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A.

(2010). Species boundaries of Gulf of Mexico vestimentiferans (Polychaeta, Siboglinidae) inferred from mitochondrial genes . Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography.

(2009). Salinity sensitivity of early embryos of the Antarctic sea urchin, Sterechinus neumayeri . Polar Biology.

BOOK CHAPTER

Dominique A. Cowart, Katherine R. Murphy, C.-H. Christina Cheng (2022). Environmental DNA from Marine Waters and Substrates: Protocols for Sampling and eDNA Extraction . Methods in Molecular Biology.