Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology

Welcome

Welcome to the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology (EEOB) at Iowa State University.

Founded in 2003, EEOB brought together under one roof faculty and students with similar interests to work together on important questions in ecology and evolution, using a wide range of approaches and technologies, including fieldwork, laboratory experiments, and computational analyses. 

EEOB has many active research programs and opportunities for student interest in conservation biology, ecological and evolutionary genomics, population, community, and ecosystem ecology, quantitative genetics, and other traditional organismal disciplines such as taxonomy.  The 28 faculty, 13 post-doctoral research associates and staff, and 50 graduate students are housed in Bessey Hall, where the hallways are lined with research displays highlighting, for example, the evolution of the eye in mollusks, sex determination in turtles, the genetic make-up of sponges, the restoration of grasslands, and the great diversity of tropical bamboo species. 

Faculty in EEOB are linked through students and research programs to many other departments within the life sciences, as well as to supporting disciplines in the physical and computational sciences.  The diverse knowledge of the EEOB faculty provides unique opportunities for undergraduate students majoring in Biology, Genetics, and Environmental Science, to whom we offer a rich and cutting-edge curriculum.

If you have any questions about programs or opportunities in EEOB, please contact us at 515-294-0133.  We look forward to serving you.

Downing Lab

Research in the Downing Lab spans the range from aquatic to terrestrial ecology; from microbial ecology to biogeochemistry; and from population conservation to whole ecosystem restoration and management. Scales of study range from the organismal to comparative analyses of ecosystems across the globe. Research in aquatic ecology and limnology is centered upon the highly impacted, eutrophic to hypereutrophic lakes and streams of the US Midwest.

To learn more, please visit their website.

News & Updates

van der Valk to receive 2008 SWS Merit Award

EEOB faculty member, Arnold van der Valk will receive the 2008 SWS Merit Award at the Society of Wetland Scientists' annual meeting. This award is given in recognition of an outstanding piece of original research,
achievement, or contribution to wetland science.

Ponds trap more carbon than the world's oceans

New research by Professor John Downing and colleagues states that ponds across the globe could bury more carbon than all the world’s oceans.

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Colbert receives Iowa science teaching award

Jim Colbert, associate professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology has received the 2008 Distinguised Iowa Science Teaching Award from the Iowa Academy of Science.

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Unraveling duplicate gene expression in cotton featured on BMC Biology website

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Schwanz finds "Sick mice put their babies' health first"

A recent article from New Scientist features the findings of Post Doctoral Fellow Lisa Schwanz.

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Second edition of Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States released

This completely revised second edition provides all the information necessary to identify mushrooms in the field in the midcontinental region of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin: the tallgrass prairies and the western parts of the eastern deciduous forests.

Website

Adams, Church explore Bergmann's Rule in Amphibians

Published in the February 2008 edition of Evolution, Dr. Dean Adams and Ph.D. candidate James Church investigate size variation across environmental gradients in Plethodon.

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Past Articles