“I use physics to study how natural selection shapes the geometry of plants, in particular branching patterns in trees, and how communities of trees fit together.”

Combining curiosity about ferns with the high-tech imaging available at UT, Professor Jacob S. Suissa is adding new insight into evolution.

The rodent that caused a sidewalk impression known as the “Chicago Rat Hole” likely was a squirrel, according to a UT animal researcher and his colleagues.

Professor Emeritus Gordon Burghardt received the 2024 Biosemiotics Achievement Award for his contribution to a special issue of Biosemiotics, titled “Jakob von Uexküll, heterophenomenology, and behavior systems I: Core ethology and Merleau-Ponty.”

Long dismissed as unintelligent, reptiles are emerging as cognitively and emotionally complex animals. A new study involving tortoises suggests that they also possess mood states.

The Athletics Professor of Excellence awards started in the 2024-2025 academic year as a result of the advocacy of the Faculty Senate, in partnership with the University of Tennessee Athletics Department. The awards, which are funded by Athletics and come with… Read more: Liz Derryberry Honored as Athletics Professor of Excellence

The Grady L. Webster and Barbara D. Webster Award is a rotating award presented in alternating years by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists and the Botanical Society of America.

Under the direction of University of Tennessee professor emeritus Gary McCracken and Ijam’s conservation director, Ben Nanny, a bat house has been constructed near Meads Quarry that’s expected to attract a large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats that will prove to… Read more: Ijams Hails Bats – Lots of Bats – with New Habitat House

Female treefrogs prefer a mate with an impressive call, but the crowded environments give unattractive males an edge, according to a new international study led by Assistant Professor Jessie Tanner of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Congrats to Botany and EEB alumnus Mike Dennis, the 2025 recipient of the College of Arts & Sciences Volunteer of the Year Award!

Cultivating for color: The hidden trade-offs between garden aesthetics and pollinator preferences Colorful gardens can be pollinator-friendly with native flowering plants. Borchee/E+ via Getty Images Claire Therese Hemingway, University of Tennessee People often prioritize aesthetics when choosing plants for their gardens.… Read more: Claire Hemingway in ‘The Conversation’: Cultivating for color: The hidden trade-offs between garden aesthetics and pollinator preferences

In this video, Alumni Distinguished Service Professor Gordon Burghardt shares his experiences from events that took place during the 50th anniversary of the famous trial, and offers insightful commentary on ongoing issues of science and nature.

In this interview, Professor Benjamin M. Auerbach, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, explores the origins of the Scopes Trial, misconceptions about the event, and its legacy for science education 100 years later.

Vishal Kennedy, the 2025 National Wildlife Federation Graduate Student EcoLeader Community Research Fellow, is a doctoral student researcher in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) announced Professor Paul Armsworth, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, among its cohort of 2025 ESA Fellows. He joins seven other new fellows and 10 new early career fellows.

Jacob Suissa is known for his enthusiastic approach to teaching about botany, both in the classroom as a professor of evolutionary biology at UT and through the non-profit “Let’s Botanize” social-media platform. He has now channeled that green-world energy into a new book about the complex history of one of the planet’s most enduring plants.

The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) hosted a meeting of 34 scientists from around the world March 20–23, 2025, to build a synthetic vision for the field of plant-microbe interactions across space, time, and levels of biological organization: molecules, to organisms, to ecosystems.

The College of Arts and Sciences hosted its annual awards ceremony on Monday, March 31, 2025, at the UT Conference Center in downtown Knoxville. The annual ceremony honors faculty members in all areas of the college’s mission, selected by their colleagues… Read more: EEB Faculty Honored at the Annual College of Arts and Sciences Convocation

The MSU EEB Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship is a two-year position that includes a generous salary and research stipend. Fellows are fully participating members of EEB with cutting-edge research programs and innovative community engagement initiatives, mentored by two or more EEB faculty… Read more: Nicole Lussier Receives MSU Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship

Four faculty members at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have been elected 2024 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. AAAS Fellows are elected to a lifetime appointment annually by their peers on the AAAS Council in recognition of… Read more: Susan Kalisz Honored by AAAS as Lifetime Fellow

The Richard and Minnie Windler award recognizes the best papers in ecology and systematics published in the journal Castanea in 2024. The paper acknowledges support from the Hesler Fund, as well as extensive use of UT Herbarium resources. Two of the co-authors… Read more: Schilling Lab Group Paper Receives Richard and Minnie Windler Award

The Volunteer of Distinction awards celebrate academic excellence among undergraduate and graduate students. Students are selected to be honored as Volunteers of Distinction in recognition of their extraordinary academic achievement, professional promise, teaching (graduate students), or research.

Humans can have a lot to consider when working out the best choices for their needs: buying a car, choosing a home, or just shopping for groceries. An overwhelming number of options can give a person pause. Animals experience this same… Read more: Claire Hemingway and Jessie Tanner published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Paul Armsworth, Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has received a 2025 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award for excellence in teaching, research and service.

Biologist Charles Darwin would be 216 years-old this month, and museum educators and UT scientists at the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture are celebrating with Darwin Day on February 23.

Seven faculty members from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville — five from the Tickle College of Engineering and two from the College of Arts and Sciences — have been named to Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list for 2024. The honor is bestowed on only one… Read more: Rich Norby Among World’s Most Highly Cited Scientists

Ferns’ ability to evolve ‘backward’ offers insights into the meandering path of evolution Unfurling fiddlehead of the Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides). Jacob S. Suissa, CC BY-ND Jacob S. Suissa, University of Tennessee Imagine a photograph of your great-grandparents, grandparents and parents side… Read more: Ferns’ ability to evolve ‘backward’ offers insights into the meandering path of evolution

Planning for spring’s garden? Bees like variety and don’t care about your neighbors’ yards If you plant it, they will come. Zbych/iStock via Getty Images Plus Laura Russo, University of Tennessee In order to reproduce, most flowering plants rely on animals to… Read more: Planning for spring’s garden? Bees like variety and don’t care about your neighbors’ yards

Vampire bats – look beyond the fangs and blood to see animal friendships and unique adaptations Vampire bats have complex social relationships. Samuel Betkowski/Moment via Getty Images Sebastian Stockmaier, University of Tennessee You can probably picture a vampire: Pale, sharply fanged undead… Read more: The Conversation: Vampire Bats – Look Beyond the Fangs and Blood To See Animal Friendships and Unique Adaptations

While rates of evolution have appeared to accelerate over short time periods, new analysis suggests that statistical noise is affecting the data patterns. A professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and his colleague have developed new tools to help researchers filter the data.

Two researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have received prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER awards to help them establish a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. Stephanie Kivlin, an associate professor in the Department of Ecology… Read more: UT Researchers Receive NSF CAREER Awards for Science, Engineering

The Collaborative for Animal Behavior (CoLAB) is a pioneering research center dedicated to understanding the complexities of animal behavior in a rapidly changing world. This new center within the UT College of Arts and Sciences brings together scholars from diverse fields… Read more: New UT Center Combines Disciplines to Study Animal Behavior

Bees have irrational biases when choosing which flowers to feed on − just like human shoppers do The other flowers a bee has visited recently will influence how it judges this one. Scott-Cartwright-Photography/Moment via Getty Images Claire Therese Hemingway, University of Tennessee… Read more: Claire Hemingway in ‘The Conversation’: Bees have irrational biases when choosing which flowers to feed on − just like human shoppers do

Colton Adams, a 2023 graduate in honors ecology and evolutionary biology, continued his academic journey as one of UT’s 13 Fulbright Scholars for 2023–2024, contributing to the Big Orange reputation as a top producer of these accomplished students.  Adams traveled to the University… Read more: Adams Expands Research Flock with Latvian Fulbright Experience

Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Nina Fefferman became a mathematician because she loves puzzles. She’s just been awarded $18 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation to solve one puzzle that has the potential to change the world: how, when… Read more: U.S. National Science Foundation Awards UT $18M to Study Factors That Lead to Pandemics

NSF CAREER Award Expands Ecological Research for Kivlin Lab Associate Professor Stephanie Kivlin earned a 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award for her project proposal “Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Plant-Mycorrhizal Fungal Symbioses at Continental Scale.” The work will help build a… Read more: NSF CAREER Award Expands Ecological Research for Kivlin Lab

UT Faculty, Students Sharing Ecology Research Ecologists from around the world learned about research conducted at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, during the annual Ecological Society of America meeting this month. About 20 oral presentations plus poster sessions featured UT faculty… Read more: UT Faculty, Students Sharing Ecology Research

Animal behavior captivated Gordon Burghardt as a boy, and over more than half a century at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, his interdisciplinary research advanced ethology in areas including animal play, social behavior, communication, reptile behavior, enrichment, and animal cognitive abilities.… Read more: Burghardt honored by Animal Behavior Society

Simberloff Receives Honorary Doctorate by Amy Beth Miller Daniel Simberloff’s contributions to ecology and conservation biology as a researcher, educator, and mentor received recognition this spring from Tel Aviv University (TAU). Simberloff, the Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Studies in the… Read more: Simberloff Receives Honorary Doctorate

Remembering Our Friends During the past few years, the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology has lost many members of our community. Here we recognize some of the staff and students who came through our program—including the zoology and botany programs… Read more: Remembering Our Friends

Greenhouses Grow More Than Plants Perhaps best known for showcasing Rotty Top—the huge, stinky, corpse flower that bloomed a few summers ago—the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Greenhouse is a remarkable asset and gem on the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville… Read more: Greenhouses Grow More Than Plants

Faculty Spotlight: Jessie Tanner Tree Frog Communication in Complex Environments Jessie Tanner joined the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in August 2022 as an assistant professor, dually appointed in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Psychology. An… Read more: Faculty Spotlight: Jessie Tanner

Faculty Spotlight: Sebastian Stockmaier Bat Behavior and Cross-Species Transmission Sebastian Stockmaier, who works at the intersection of behavioral and disease ecology, began as an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in January 2023. He is interested in… Read more: Faculty Spotlight: Sebastian Stockmaier

New Faculty Spotlight: Claire Hemingway Bats, Bees, and Their Dining Decisions Claire Hemingway joined the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in August 2023 as an assistant professor with a dual appointment in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department… Read more: New Faculty Spotlight: Claire Hemingway

EEB Research Reaches Around the World The University of Tennessee’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology has a vibrant community of researchers exploring important ecological and evolutionary questions that enrich understanding of global issues, training students to think broadly, and helping… Read more: EEB Research Reaches Around the World

Message from the Department Head Scopes Centennial Celebrates Study of Evolution In 1925, high school teacher John T. Scopes was accused of violating Tennessee’s Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution. Scopes was unsure that he had taught evolution, but… Read more: Message from the Department Head

Multicultural Team Researching in West Africa In the Anthropocene, human activities can change the way species interact with each other and alter biodiversity. It is also important to train the next generation of scientists how to conduct complex research in the… Read more: Multicultural Team Researching in West Africa

Ferns and flowers bribe helpful ant defenders with nectar, but ferns developed this ability much later – our study shows why Ants foraging for nectar on a Bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum). Jacob S. Suissa, CC BY-ND Jacob S. Suissa, University of Tennessee… Read more: Jacob Suissa in ‘The Conversation’: “Ferns and flowers bribe helpful ant defenders with nectar, but ferns developed this ability much later – our study shows why”

Anthropomorphism, long considered a cardinal sin among researchers, is making a slow comeback.

Ecological Society of America Awards UT Researchers by Randall Brown Two Vol researchers from the UT Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) earned honors in the 2024 Ecological Society of America (ESA) Awards. These awards recognize outstanding contributions to ecology… Read more: Ecological Society of America Awards UT Researchers

by Randall Brown Collaborations across research disciplines can lead to unexpected breakthroughs and discoveries. Collaborations across species lead to unexpected evolutionary paths of mutual benefit. For example, some plants have managed to recruit ant bodyguards. They produce sugary nectar on their… Read more: Suissa Study Has High Hopes For Plant-Ant Partnerships

UT Researchers Dig Up Good News For Microbial Studies by Randall Brown Post-doctoral researcher Joe Edwards and graduate student Sarah Love, both in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, published findings this spring that can save fellow researchers a lot… Read more: UT Researchers Dig Up Good News For Microbial Studies

Departmental Support Boosts NSF Awards For Graduate Students by Randall Brown An increasing number of Vols in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) earned awards through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). It marks a… Read more: Departmental Support Boosts NSF Awards For Graduate Students

In Water Canyon, New Mexico, there is a small, 18-mile-long, high-elevation area called the Magdalena Mountains, surrounded by desert. The isolated peaks host a scrubby collection of plants, including a tiny cluster of about 20 cottonwood trees. They are trapped, as… Read more: Love and Bailey published in Knowable Magazine

The award-winning National Parks magazine shares stories about our beloved and diverse National Park System.

Faculty Recognized for Excellence in Teaching, Service, and Academic Outreach During the 2023 UT College of Arts and Sciences faculty convocation, EEB faculty received awards for excellence in teaching, research, and academic outreach.  Benjamin Keck, Lecturer – Excellence in Teaching Awards:… Read more: Faculty Recognized for Excellence in Teaching, Service, and Academic Outreach

United States Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and US Geological Survey Director Dave Applegate joined students, scientists, and community partners affiliated with the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center at NC State University in February for detailed conversations about climate adaptation. … Read more: Armsworth Discusses Climate Adaptation with US Interior Secretary Haaland