Campus Directory

Pronouns he, him, his, his, himself

Division Physical & Biological Sciences Division

Department/College/Unit IMS-Fisheries Collaborative Program
Institute of Marine Sciences

Title Project Scientist

Affiliation Staff

Staff Type Researcher

Web Site

Primary Office Location Remote work location
Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Santa Cruz, Room 254-F

Office Hours for Students/ Office Hours contact via email

Mail Stop NMFS

Research Interests

• Applying genetic methods to conserve and manage at-risk species

• Application of next-gen sequencing to understand expressed phenotypes

• Identification of the genes responsible for life-history variation in salmonids

• Exploring eco-evolutionary processes with whole-genome data

Selected Publications

Hernandez, KM, AJ Clemento, JE Linossier, DE Crocker, DP Costa, C Reichmuth & JC Garza. 2025. Microhaplotype methods enable relationship inference in a bottlenecked mammalian species. Animal Conservation. {early online: https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.70030}

Anderson, EC, AJ Clemento, MA Campbell, DE Pearse, A Beulke, C Columbus, E Cambell, NF Thompson & JC Garza. 2025. A multipurpose microhaplotype baseline for genetic analysis of California Chinook salmon. Evolutionary Applications. 18(5):e70110 {https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70110}

Pregler, KC, AJ Clemento, M Grill, P Adelizi, SM Carlson, JC Garza. 2024. Reintroduction of spring-run Chinook salmon in the San Joaquin River: Evaluating genetic and phenotypic effects of captive breeding. Conservation Science and Practice. 6(9):e13176

Waters, CD, AJ Clemento, T Aykanat, JC Garza, KA Naish, S Narum and CR Primmer. 2021. Heterogeneous genetic basis of age at maturity in salmonid fishes. Molecular Ecology. 30(6):1435- 1456.

Thompson, NF, EC Anderson, AJ Clemento, MA Campbell, DE Pearse, JW Hearsey, AP Kinziger and JC Garza. 2020. A complex phenotype in salmon controlled by a simple change in migratory timing. Science. 370(6516):609-613.

Baetscher, DS, AJ Clemento, TC Ng, EC Anderson and JC Garza. 2017. Microhaplotypes provide increased power from short-read DNA sequences for relationship inference in fish and wildlife. Molecular Ecology Resources. 18(2):296-305.

Arciniega, M, AJ Clemento, MR Miller, M Peterson, JC Garza and DE Pearse. 2015. Parallel evolution of the summer steelhead ecotype in multiple populations from Oregon and Northern California. Conservation Genetics. 17(1):165-175.

Clemento, AJ, ED Crandall, JC Garza and EC Anderson. 2014. Evaluation of a single nucleotide polymorphism baseline for genetic stock identification of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the California Current large marine ecosystem. Fishery Bulletin. 112(2-3):112-130.

Clemento, AJ, A Abadía-Cardoso, HA Starks and JC Garza. 2011. Discovery and characterization of single nucleotide polymorphisms in Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. Molecular Ecology Resources. 11(Suppl.1):50-66.

Clemento, AJ, EC Anderson, D Boughton, D Girman and JC Garza. 2009. Population genetic structure and ancestry of Oncorhynchus mykiss populations above and below dams in south-central California. Conservation Genetics. 10(5):1321-1336.