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Faculty |
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My environmental research involves the impact of habitat fragmentation on birds. More specifically the impact of habitat edges on grassland birds and their use of agricultural habitats. |
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Dr. Daniel's specialty areas are anaerobic microbiology, microbial physiology, environmental microbiology, and microbial ecology. His general research interests include the ecological and metabolic roles that microorganisms, especially anaerobic bacteria, play in the turnover of matter and energy in various environmental systems such as the human/animal guts, soils, and sediments. |
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Dr. Gaines’ research interests primarily focus on wildlife toxicology at the landscape level. Most of her work involves developing spatial models that predict how different wildlife species may be exposed to contaminants such as radionuclides, metals and organics and how that may impact environmental health. |
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Dr. Fischer's general interests include aquatic ecology, fisheries biology, and physiological ecology. His special interests include community analysis of stream fishes, life history and demographics of fish, bioenergetics of development and life history phenomena, and lipid storage and utilization patterns of fish. |
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Environmental Biology Program |
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Department of Biological Sciences |
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Dr. Marjanovic is animal physiologist with specific interest in comparative and adaptational physiology. She studies the cellular mechanisms of freeze-tolerance (frogs and turtles) and freeze-avoidance (Antarctic fish) in vertebrates, and physiological adaptations in mammalian hibernation. She relates changes at the cellular level to temperature sensitivity of the whole organism, which has direct application to the conservation of amphibians and reptiles in temperate climates. |
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My research focuses on the vegetation dynamics and regeneration in general. While most of my work examines succession in abandoned agricultural land and the controls and consequences of exotic species invasions, my students have worked on a variety of environmental issues including: forest edge effects, habitat fragmentation impacts on population vigor and ecological restoration. |
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Andrew Methven is a mycologist and lichenologist with interests in systematics, ecology, and phylogeny of mushrooms and lichens. Included among his environmentally related research interests are ongoing studies of the effects of forest alteration on the presence, abundance and distribution of mushrooms and the effects of fragmented ecosystems on lichen occurrence and distribution. |
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My interests center on community ecology, specifically the dynamics of predator-prey relationships. My on-going research addresses how the species within a community respond to the addition or removal of other species (either predator or prey). I examine these questions from behavioral, physiological, and population-level aspects. |
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Dr. Nelson’s research interests include wildlife habitat relationships and mammalian ecology such as the dynamics of beaver populations, the ecology of red squirrels, and habitat ecology of raccoons and other mesopredators. Dr. Nelson serves as the Environmental Biology coordinator. |
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Dr. Novak’s research interests are in ecological genetics. Since ecological genetics involves the interaction of organisms with their environment he also utilizes the effects of anthropogenic stressors to look at genotoxic effects on wildlife populations. Currently he is working on the use of organismal form components as tools for the management of wildlife populations and as effects biomarkers in ecotoxicological studies. |
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Dr. Owen’s research experiences and interests are in the use of cell, tissue, and organ culture techniques for plant propagation, regeneration, conservation, and genetic improvement, and in field and laboratory seed physiology studies of endangered, threatened, native, or invasive Illinois species. To date, undergraduate and graduate student projects have focused on several native endangered & threatened species as well as exotic and invasive species. |
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While Dr. Pederson's primary teaching and research interests are in algal ecology and physiology, he also has considerable expertise in the areas of water quality and ecotoxicology. His research is in the field of aquatic ecology with emphasis on lake restoration and the use of algae as biological monitors of pollution |
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Dr. Switzer's research interests are wide-ranging within animal behavior and behavioral ecology. His research covers mating systems, social behavior, aggressive behavior, and the selection of locations and habitats (for breeding, foraging, or roosting habitat). In particular, he is interested in how an individual's previous experience affects these aspects of its behavior. |
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A vascular plant systematist, Dr. Tucker is a specialist on the grass and sedge families. He serves as curator of the Stover-Ebinger Herbarium. He has strong interests in field botany and has conducted inventories for The Nature Conservancy, the Army Corps of Engineers, Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources and other agencies. |
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As an EVB major, you will have the opportunity to interact with all the faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences as well as those from other EIU departments. The Biology Faculty that have ongoing research and teaching programs in environmental biology are highlighted above. |
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My research interests deal with host/parasite interactions at the ecological and cellular levels. Current projects are investigating the interactions of pollutants and ecological stressors with parasite populations, and the potential to use parasite assemblages as indicators of habitat quality. |
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Dr. Coons' interests include plant physiology and horticulture, specifically the mechanisms which plants use to tolerate environmental stress. She has worked with several vegetable crops and several environmental stresses (low/high temperature, salt, wind, air pollution). Much of her work is in seed physiology. |
