Deron Burkepile, Ph.D
Assistant Professor
Marine Science Program
Department of Biological Sciences
Florida International University
3000 NE 151st St.
North Miami, FL 33181
Office: 305-919-4017
Fax: 305-919-4030
Email: deron.burkepile@fiu.edu
Research Interests – Trophic interactions, community ecology, chemical ecology
The unifying theme of my research is to identify how alterations to trophic interactions and ecosystem productivity affect
community structure and ecosystem function. My research program employs an interdisciplinary program of field and lab
experiments, behavioral observations, synthetic statistical analyses, and natural products chemistry to address trophic
interactions from a variety of perspectives from large-scale patterns to small-scale mechanisms. Although most of my work
has been on consumer control of marine ecosystems (coral reefs, temperate reefs, and estuaries), I am currently working in
terrestrial ecosystems (South African savanna grasslands and North American tall grass prairie) on the role of herbivore size
in driving community structure and on the interactions between herbivory and productivity in structuring plant communities.
Recent Projects Lab Members Publications Courses
Selected Publications
Burkepile, D.E. and M.E. Hay. (2008) Herbivore species richness and feeding
complementarity affect community structure
and function on a coral reef. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences 105:16201-16206.
Burkepile,
D.E. and M.E. Hay. (2007) Predator release of the gastropod Cyphoma gibbosum results in increased
predation
on gorgonian corals.
Oecologia 154:167-173.
Parker, J.D., D.E. Burkepile, and M.E. Hay. (2006) Opposing effects of native and exotic herbivores on plant invasions.
Science 311:1459-1461.
Burkepile, D.E. and M.E. Hay. (2006) Herbivore vs. nutrient control of marine primary producers: context-dependent effects.
Ecology 87:3128-3139.
Burkepile, D.E., J.D. Parker, C.B. Woodson, H. Mills, J. Kubanek, P.A. Sobecky, and M.E. Hay. (2006) Chemically-mediated
competition between microbes and animals: microbes as consumers in food webs. Ecology 87:2821-2831