My primary research is on coral reefs from shallow waters to the deep sea. My focus is on understanding their distribution, abundance, and physiology, as well as how they are affected by anthropogenic impacts.
Room: 4021
King Life Sciences
My research combines ecological and evolutionary principles to study the population biology of coastal marine invertebrates (such as corals, bryozoans, and gastropods). Topics studied include larval dispersal, population connectivity, population dynamics, life history evolution, adaptive phenotypic plasticity, maternal effects, and local adaptation. I typically use some combination of field and laboratory experiments, population and quantitative genetics approaches, and mathematical modeling.
Full Research Faculty, FSU Coastal & Marine Laboratory
Room: 2006
King Life Sciences
Mailcode: 1259
I am a marine ecologist with primary research interests in species behavior, interactions and habitat use. These interests extend to examining how science is incorporated into policies that affect the management and conservation of nature.
I am interested in how ecological, evolutionary, and epidemiological processes interact to drive population-level dynamics. My research program involves the development and use mathematical models to understand how species interactions and variation in species traits (due to evolution or phenotypic plasticity) affect the dynamics of predator-prey, host-pathogen, and other communities.
Geographic variation in sexual selection.
My lab group investigates the social behavior of wild birds. We study how social groups form, the selective forces that influence cooperation, and the fitness effects of complex behaviors. Our work analyzes detailed long-term field data on behavior and genetic reproductive success, using statistical models to quantify within- and between-individual effects. Major study systems include Lance-tailed Manakins in Panama and Brown-headed Nuthatches in the Tallahassee area.
Professor of Anatomy and Vertebrate Paleobiology
Curator, Florida State University Biological Science Museum
Room: 4011
King Life Sciences
Evolutionary morphology of vertebrates and paleobiology.
Room: 121
Admin Building
My research interests are in ichthyology and marine ecology with an emphasis on the biology of coastal, pelagic, and deep sea fishes. Much of my research focuses on exploited, imperiled, or poorly studied elasmobranch species and is often directed towards answering questions necessary for sustainable management and conservation of their populations. I am particularly interested in the drivers of community structure and habitat use patterns as well as population dynamics and life history variability.
I am an evolutionary geneticist, studying the relationship between genomic and phenotypic variation. Now that we have genomes, we need a comparably thorough understanding of phenomes to understand the selection that acts on genetic variation. Our models are the appendages of fruit flies, where we exploit genomic variation, direct manipulation of genes and experimental evolution to understand how the developmental system shapes variation, and ultimately the ability of complex systems to evolve.
Why are organisms are so genetically diverse? This is the broad question on which my lab focuses. In particular, we want to understand how variation is maintained in traits that are under strong natural selection: life history traits, sexually selected traits, and other traits closely tied to fitness. We use a variety of approaches to investigate these issues ranging from field experiments to genomic analyses.
Room: T03-0001
FSU Coastal & Marine Lab
Mailcode: 1259
I am a marine ecologist with a wide interest in benthic biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and food web ecology in marine ecosystems. At the FSUCML my research focusses on creating a better understanding of the role of meiofauna in marine ecosystem function, and advancing our knowledge of meiofauna and nematode biology and ecology. Meiofaunal organisms are abundant in all marine ecosystems and play a pivotal role in key processes and functions. Despite their ecological importance, they are often overlooked and many aspects of their biology and ecology are still unknown.
I am a quantitative population and community ecologist, mostly working with plants and insects. I am interested in how variation among individuals (in traits, stages, and spatial locations) affects population dynamics and species interactions. Projects in the lab include work on spatial neighborhood effects on plants and insects, tritrophic interactions among plants-seed predators-parasitoids, mathematical models of communities, and phenological responses to climate change. I am Associate EIC for Ecological Monographs.
I study the symbiotic interaction of nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria with legume host plants: 1)How bacteria manipulate their environment during host plant invasion such that the plant not only permits entry, but provides an invasion pathway for them; 2)Why the interactions of specific strains of Sinorhizobium with particular Medicago truncatula plant ecotypes are more productive than others; 3)How plants direct resources to productive symbionts at the expense of unproductive ones (cheaters).
Research in our lab focuses on the study of speciation, from the earliest stages where populations start to diverge to the final stages where reproductive isolation evolves. We are also involved in accelerating resolution of the Tree of Life, through development of next-generation sequencing approaches for phylogenomics and population genomics.
I am an applied marine ecologist focused on coastal and marine natural resource management and conservation science. Lester Lab research centers around three closely linked themes: 1) spatial approaches to marine conservation, management, and ecosystem restoration, 2) socio-ecological vulnerability of marine systems to global change, and 3) marine aquaculture and sustainable seafood systems. We apply an interdisciplinary lens to our work and utilize field surveys, data analysis and synthesis, and modeling.
I am interested in the ecology and evolution of marine invertebrates. My work examines the interactions between ecological processes, natural and sexual selection, and molecular evolution. I am particularly interested in how sperm availability and population density influence the evolution of gamete traits and reproductive behavior and the cascading effects of this selection on reproductive isolation and speciation. I enjoy integrating field experiments and molecular studies with theory.
My research program involves topics within the broadly defined area of biodiversity study. I am particularly interested in (1) the interplay of ecology and evolution that determines the form and function of plant life on Earth, (2) the use of biodiversity research specimens and digital information about them to bring that interplay into sharper focus, and (3) public engagement in the research to further science and STEM literacy goals
I am broadly interested in what controls the diversity and abundance of species in different communities and I work in two very different areas. (1) Coastal Dune Vegetation: I am interested in the forces that structure communities on barrier islands, with an eye to understanding long-term effects of climate change. (2) Community Ecology and Evolution of Inquilines Pitcher Plants: We use models and experiments to ask how species in assemblages evolve through time, testing patterns inherent in Darwins Finches.
We study population dynamics, with a focus on how environmental variability, trophic interactions, and management affect viability and productivity in space and time. We partner with coastal and Indigenous communities in our research, with the goal of making resource management and conservation more equitable, ecologically sound, and just. Research in the lab integrates fieldwork, laboratory experiments focused on ecophysiology and energetics, statistical analysis, quantitative theory, and simulation modeling.
Room: 4059
King Life Sciences
Mailcode: 4295
I am a quantitative marine ecologist with research interests straddling the linked fields of natural resource management and ecosystem resilience. I combine field experiments, data analysis and mathematical modeling to address basic and applied questions in temperate and tropical reef ecosystems.
Molecular and statistical properties of adaptive evolution.
My research is focused on understanding the origin of biological diversity. I reconstruct phylogenies of highly diverse groups like rodents and bivalves and use those phylogenies to explore biogeography, morphological evolution, rates of diversification, and how patterns of correlations among traits themselves evolve,
Room: T03-0001
FSU Coastal & Marine Lab
Mailcode: 1259
The unifying theme of my research is understanding the causes and consequences of parasitism and infectious disease in aquatic ecosystems. How do largescale environmental changes—like climate change and biodiversity loss—influence pathogen spread? Why do epidemics start and what limits their size? To what extent do parasites constrain their host populations, and how do the suppressive effects of disease scale up to affect community structure and ecosystem function? To address these questions, I combine natural history, theoretical models, laboratory experiments, and field studies.
Biology Unit I
Mailcode: 4370
Plant roots are analogous to the animal gut as both are important sites of nutrient acquisition and microbial activity. We use the plant model system, Arabidopsis thaliana, to study the role of innate immunity in establishing a healthy root microbiome. We use a combination of NextGen sequencing, microscopy, and genetics to study the mechanisms required for distinguishing between beneficial and pathogenic bacteria in a manner that modulates bacterial growth.
Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor
Room: 210
Biomedical Research Facility
Mailcode: 4340
I am interested in how and why the features of animals vary from one population to another. This variation, whether in behavior, life history, or morphology, represents the earliest stage in the adaptive generation of biodiversity. In some cases, this variation can promote ecological differences between localities, which illustrates the interplay of evolution and ecology.
Director of the FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory
Room: Building 462, Room 102
Coastal & Marine Laboratory
I am an ecologist interested in understanding how the environment affects organisms and they affect it. My students and I study the controls of population and community dynamics of fish and invertebrates in aquatic ecosystems, especially wetlands. We also study animal influences on their environment through engineering its structure and impacts on biogeochemical cycles. Much of my research is conducted in support of environmental management and restoration projects.
I study the ecology and evolution of plant-insect interactions, with a focus on how genotypic and phenotypic variation among individuals affects the long-term spatial and temporal dynamics of populations and communities. I work in both natural and agricultural systems, and use a combination of greenhouse and field experiments and mathematical modeling.
I am interested in how plants adapt to environments that vary in time and space, and how this contributes to patterns of phenotypic variation within and among individuals and populations. Major topics of research in my lab include the ecology and evolution of phenotypic plasticity, processes that promote or inhibit local adaptation, and the evolution of plant mating systems.
Mutualisms, life history and morphological strategies, predator defenses, and biogeography of clonal marine invertebrates, especially sponges.
