Biological Scientists

Dr. Christine Rohal
Christine is the lab manager. She also leads and collaborates on projects on plant selection and performance, implications of biodiversity, and seed germination cues,
Christine is the lab manager. She also leads and collaborates on projects on plant selection and performance, implications of biodiversity, and seed germination cues,

Morgan Edwards
Morgan works on the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve Project. She co-leads the monitoring program and is active in marine debris removal and outreach events.
Morgan works on the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve Project. She co-leads the monitoring program and is active in marine debris removal and outreach events.

Jamie Hammond
Jamie works on the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve Project. She co-leads the monitoring program and is active in marine debris removal and outreach events.
Jamie works on the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve Project. She co-leads the monitoring program and is active in marine debris removal and outreach events.
Graduate Students

Alexandra Bijak
PhD Candidate
Soil Water and Ecosystem Sciences Department
FL Sea Grant Fellow
Alex is broadly interested in how biodiversity promotes ecosystem functioning in natural systems. For her dissertation, she is studying how seagrass species diversity affects meadow stability (or constancy in seagrass cover over time) and how both diversity and stability affect carbon cycling in seagrass meadows.
PhD Candidate
Soil Water and Ecosystem Sciences Department
FL Sea Grant Fellow
Alex is broadly interested in how biodiversity promotes ecosystem functioning in natural systems. For her dissertation, she is studying how seagrass species diversity affects meadow stability (or constancy in seagrass cover over time) and how both diversity and stability affect carbon cycling in seagrass meadows.

Audrey Looby
PhD Candidate
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Audrey is focusing on fish sound production and coastal soundscape ecology, both globally and locally in the Gulf of Mexico. She is the co-lead of the FishSounds website effort to compile fish sound production information and recordings and her other research interests include fish-habitat interactions, restoration ecology, and anthropogenic noise pollution.
PhD Candidate
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Audrey is focusing on fish sound production and coastal soundscape ecology, both globally and locally in the Gulf of Mexico. She is the co-lead of the FishSounds website effort to compile fish sound production information and recordings and her other research interests include fish-habitat interactions, restoration ecology, and anthropogenic noise pollution.

Bella Reyes
PhD Candidate
Soil Water and Ecosystem Sciences Department
NSF Fellow
Bella studies the abundance, distribution, structure, and function of urban mangroves.
PhD Candidate
Soil Water and Ecosystem Sciences Department
NSF Fellow
Bella studies the abundance, distribution, structure, and function of urban mangroves.

Adam Searles
PhD Student
School of Natural Resources and the Environment
NSF Fellow
Adam studies interactions between macrophytes (seagrass and algae) and animal communities.
PhD Student
School of Natural Resources and the Environment
NSF Fellow
Adam studies interactions between macrophytes (seagrass and algae) and animal communities.
Distance Education Graduate Students
Devin Leonard, non-thesis DE student in Soil Water and Ecosystem Sciences
Deborah Holt, non-thesis DE student in Soil Water and Ecosystem Sciences
Undergraduate Students

Kaitlyn Tucker
BS Student in Marine Science
NCBS Intern
Top 10 CALS undergraduate student 2023
Kaitlyn's thesis investigates the efficacy and comparability of different seagrass monitoring techniques.
BS Student in Marine Science
NCBS Intern
Top 10 CALS undergraduate student 2023
Kaitlyn's thesis investigates the efficacy and comparability of different seagrass monitoring techniques.
UF Lab Alums
Biological Scientists / Technicians
Ashley McDonald, Biological Scientists, Nature Coast Biological Station
Whitney Scheffel, Senior Scientists Pensacola Perdido Bay Estuary Program
Samantha Tiffany, Miami Dade County
Graduate Students
Dr. Jamila Roth, Mote Marine Lab
Cayla Sullivan, MS Environmental Protection Agency
Theresa Gruninger, MS Great Lakes Commission
Distance Graduate Students
Samantha Steffen, NC State
Chad Raimer, Consulting Firm
Aubrey Frye, South FL Water Management District
Talia Ayla, FL DEP
Arielle Taylor Manges, FL DEP
Postdocs
Diana Chin, Northeastern University
Undergraduate Students
C. Spengler, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Leah West, UF Law School
Xuechun "May" Wang , Washington State University
Kimberlie Vera, University of Wisconsin
Samantha Tiffany, Miami Dade County
Sara Koptman, UF Law School