Dr. Nathan Dorn, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Florida International University 

About the Presentation 

The Everglades, our slow-moving river of grass, is home to the largest wading bird breeding population in North America. Many spring seasons its coastal mangroves, sawgrass marshes, and pine flatwoods are dripping with the whites, pinks, and blues of the hundreds of thousands of nesting wading birds that are emblematic of South Florida. But why have the breeding numbers for these waders been so fluid from year to year?  Find out from Dr. Dorn what effects wetland water levels are having on the food webs and nesting conditions of these colorful and elegant birds.  

About Dr. Nathan Dorm 

Dr. Nathan Dorn is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University.  He is also part of the FIU Institute of Environment where he leads a large lab of students, post docs and technicians studying wetland ecology.  He received his PhD from Michigan State University in 2003 and has been studying the ecology of the Florida Everglades and adjacent wetlands for more than 19 years.  He is probably best known for his work studying the ecology of freshwater crayfish and food webs, but his work is diverse and includes examinations of the diets of nesting wading birds. He has also been a contributor to the Annual South Florida Wading Bird Report. “I am a freshwater community ecologist, and I am particularly interested in the ecological significance of predation and hydrologic variation for population regulation, trophic dynamics, and patterns of coexistence in freshwater ecosystems,” Dr. Dorn said. His research is funded by both federal and state agencies tasked with restoration and management of the Everglades.  

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