Conservation Biology
The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, in conjunction with other Departments including Botany and Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, supports a concentration in conservation biology. Degrees offered for students in the Conservation Biology program are the MS and Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The Conservation Biology Program emphasizes several aspects of conservation biology in its courses and research activities.
Research Activities
The research activities and related publications of the faculty may be found on their home pages. External research funding obtained by the Conservation Biology group includes recent grants from the National Science Foundation, United States Geological Survey, Bat Conservation International, Turner Foundation, Deep Ecology Foundation, the Ohio Division of Wildlife, and the Brookfield Zoological Society Conservation Fund. Many research activities are interdisciplinary efforts within our research group, with other institutions such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and with collaborators at a variety of locations.
Facilities and Equipment
Facilities include: various fully-equipped laboratories for genetic analysis, plant growth analysis, behavioral analysis as well as several computer labs.
Courses Offered
UT offers a variety of courses covering different areas of conservation science and management. Courses offered in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology include: Conservation Biology, Ecology for Planners and Engineers, Environmental Planning, Development Planning in the Third World, Ice-Age Environments and Global Climate Change, and Environmental Toxicology. Courses offered through other departments include: Geographical Information Systems, Population and Habitat Analysis, Predator Ecology, Biogeography, and Ecology and Management of Wild Birds. The department also participates in a cross-departmental program designed to give graduate students an opportunity to develop an interdisciplinary specialization in environmental policy. One or more seminars on specific topics are typically offered each semester.
Faculty
Faculty are housed in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Botany; Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries; Geology; and Geography. Faculty with research interests in conservation ecology include:
- Dr. David Buehler, Assistant Professor of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries. Wildlife ecology and management, conservation biology. (dbuehler@utk.edu)
- Dr. Gordon Burghardt, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Psychology. Emphasis on Ethology. (gburghar@utk.edu)
- Dr. Joe Clark, Faculty Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Population analysis, habitat evaluation, ecology of large carnivores. (jclark1@utk.edu)
- Dr. Lee Cooper, Research Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Ecological applications of stable isotope methodologies. (lcooper1@utk.edu)
- Dr. Arthur Echternacht, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Herpetology, Ecology, behavior, conservation biology. (echterna@utk.edu)
- Dr. Jackie Grebmeier, Research Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Benthic carbon cycling, benthic population structure. (jgrebmei@utk.edu)
- Dr. Louis Gross, Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics. Computational ecology, individualbased models. (gross@tiem.utk.edu)
- Dr. Sally Horn, Associate Professor of Geography. Tropical paleoenvironments. (shorn@utk.edu)
- Dr. Gary McCracken, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Population genetics, conservation biology. (gmccrack@utk.edu)
- Dr. Michael McKinney, Associate Professor of Geology. Paleoecology and evolutionary ecology. (mmckinne@utk.edu)
- Dr. Nathan Sanders, Assistant Professor. Behavioral ecology, community ecology, invasion biology, macroecology, plant-insect interactions, conservation biology. His research uses a combination of experimental and descriptive approaches to pursue these interests.(nsanders@utk.edu)
- Dr. Terry Schultz, Professor of Animal Science. Structure-activity relationships, ecotoxicology. (tschultz@utk.edu)
- Dr. Dan Simberloff, Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Nancy Gore Hunger Chair of Excellence in Environmental Studies. Conservation biogeography, community ecology and invasion biology. (dsimberloff@utk.edu)
Students
The average number of students in the program is approximately 15; they are enrolled in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Botany. The student group is highly multidisciplinary with interests ranging across differing taxa (arthropods to plants to mammals); spatial analysis and modeling at a variety of scales, and some being focused on issues of environmental policy. Students are usually funded through grants as research assistants or as graduate teaching assistants.
Program Inquiries
The best way to find out about our program is to visit us in Knoxville; we certainly welcome such visits which will allow you to talk to students as well as faculty. When inquiring about the program please tell us about yourself. What biology, ecology, science and policy courses have you taken? What computer skills do you have? What areas of research are of interest to you? What are your GPA and GRE scores? What do you plan to do after getting your degree? Answers to these questions will enable us to better respond to your inquiries.