Dr. Michael J. Blum
Professor
Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996
mblum@utk.edu
My early work examined the stability of Neotropical butterfly hybrid zones, and how unstable hybrid zones relate to models of evolutionary diversification. I have since focused on human-environment interactions in riverine and coastal marsh ecosystems, as well as disaster-prone coastal cities. My work on riverine ecosystems has focused on water quality monitoring, restoration of ecosystem functionality, and conservation of at-risk migratory fishes. My work on coastal marsh ecosystems has focused on the resilience of salt marshes to global environmental change, including the dynamics of eco-evolutionary responses to rising atmospheric CO2, salinity, inundation, and eutrophication. Since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, I have also worked extensively on coastal community resilience as well as plant-microbial responses to oiling and use of plants as ecosystem engineers for shoreline and soil remediation. And, for the better part of a decade, I have been pursuing similarly-minded work on post-Katrina New Orleans, considered by many to be a model for understanding urban deltas and outcomes of climate-related disasters. Thus far, this work has focused on examining urban social-ecological diversity as well as post-disaster ecosystem (dis)services and zoonotic disease risk.
Nate Gibson is a doctoral student pursuing research on social-ecological variation of zoonotic disease risk across urban landscapes. Nate earned his bachelor’s degree from Tulane University in ecology and evolutionary biology, and supported social-ecological studies of green infrastructure in New Orleans prior to pursuing his doctorate. He is currently pursuing work on rat lungworm transmission risk, the socioecological structure of urban mosquito communities, and integrative social-ecological assessments of zoonotic disease risk across urban landscapes.
Haley Kodak is a research associate in the lab interested broadly in the interaction between species evolution and ecosystem function in the context of global climate change. She received a master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame where she studied trait variation among populations of a foundational sedge, Schoenoplectus americanus, in coastal marsh ecosystems.
Mikayla Lanasa is a research associate who earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee in ecology and evolutionary biology. Mikayla is contributing to projects examining ecosystem outcomes of evolutionary responses to global change.
Kayci Messerly earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee in ecology and evolutionary biology with a minor in statistics. She is involved in several research projects here at UT, but her interest focuses on studying global climate change factors and how they affect species evolution.
Na’Imah Bradley is an undergraduate research associate who is supporting projects examining ecosystem outcomes of evolutionary responses to global change.
Christopher Duncan is an undergraduate research associate who is supporting projects examining the urban socioecology of infectious disease risk
Rachel Evans is an undergraduate research associate with interests in animal behavior, data visualization and GIS, who is supporting projects examining ecosystem outcomes of evolutionary responses to global change.
Destiny Matheson is an undergraduate research associate who is supporting projects examining ecosystem outcomes of evolutionary responses to global change.
Olivia Orler is an undergraduate research associate who is supporting projects examining ecosystem outcomes of evolutionary responses to global change.
blumlab.wordpress.com 