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EEB

The department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior conducts a broad range of research spanning molecules to ecosystems from chimpanzee behavior to bacterial evolution, predator interactions on the Serengeti Plains to the impact of nutrients on grasslands. You are now viewing a collection of news, features and opportunities for and about EEB.

A Growing Global Research Footprint

The Nutrient Network continues to expand with new grassland sites internationally and here at home.

In 2019, the Nutrient Network (NutNet) achieved a new milestone — 143 sites on six continents. This summer, more than 40 researchers affiliated with the ecological research network attended the NutNet annual meeting hosted by Ecology, Evolution and Behavior professors Elizabeth Borer and Eric Seabloom. 

Winged Road Warriors

Researchers track migration of monarch butterflies to determine whether roadside milkweed - often laden with salt - can fuel their journey.

Emilie Snell-Rood with monarch

Winter seems like a long ways off, but some are already beginning their migration south. Several thousand monarchs reared on the St. Paul campus are gearing up for their journey to central Mexico.

New Weapons in the Oak Wilt Wars

Drones, planes and satellites add early detection opportunity to combat the rapid spread of oak wilt.

Oak trees at Cedar Creek

It sounds like something out of a tree horror movie: After spreading silently below the ground from an infected neighbor, a fungus creeps its way up through a tree’s trunk, choking off its lifeblood and eventually killing it.

Plague is not going anywhere

Learning from Soviet Union’s extensive and failed efforts to eradicate plague.

Mention the Black Death and visions of overcrowded 14th-century European cities teaming with rats come to mind. Despite the association of plague with crowded cities the disease didn’t originate there. Plague is caused by a bacterium regularly found in flea and rodent populations across Central Asia’s rural areas, where it first appeared.

Science meets social action

Graduate student Siddharth Bharath Iyengar received the University’s 2019 Outstanding Community Service Award for his work at the intersection of social and environmental justice and science.

Siddharth Iyengar

Siddharth Bharath Iyengar’s interest in community is expansive.

Meet Tyler Imfeld

This EEB Ph.D. candidate shares his thoughts on teaching, travelling and living out childhood dreams.

Tyler Imfeld

Graduate Program: Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

Faculty advisor: Keith Barker

Mighty Oaks, Mighty Answers

Abundant, diverse, and well studied, oaks are a valuable tool for understanding how ecology and evolution interact to shape the natural world—and how species can adapt to changes ahead.