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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.

Insect superpowers unlocked

A new “flight arena” allows Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido to analyze dragonflies’ hunting movements, then ask how they do it.Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido looks into dragonfly flight arena

Fruit flies float into the humid air in a custom room dubbed the arena,  and the main event draws near.

Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Seeking Department Head Candidates

The University of Minnesota Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior (EEB) seeks a bold and collaborative leader for the role of Head. The selected individual will lead a dynamic department internationally recognized for its interdisciplinary research, scholarship, teaching, and service. The department, highly ranked for ecology and environmental sciences, houses an active and diverse graduate program and 41 core faculty, four of whom are members of the National Academy of Sciences.

Alumni at Work: Daniel Ackerman

Daniel Ackerman dives into the science communication field after his PhD work in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior.

Daniel Ackerman at MPR

Daniel Ackerman (PhD in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior '19) in a recording studio at Minnesota Public Radio where he works as a science journalist.

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.