Ä¢¹½TV

James Douglass grew up in Olympia, Washington, where he developed a love for nature and marine life. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Rice University in 2002 and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary in 2008. His graduate work focused on food-web ecology in seagrass beds of Chesapeake Bay, and he has continued to investigate marine benthic ecology around the world. Before joining Ä¢¹½TV, he completed postdoctoral fellowships with the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce, Florida, and the Northeastern University Marine Science Center in Massachusetts. Dr. Douglass joined Ä¢¹½TV as an Assistant Professor in 2012, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018, and achieved the rank of full Professor in 2023. Dr. Douglass’s laboratory studies how human-induced stressors—such as water pollution, climate change, and overfishing—impact structure-forming organisms like seagrasses, macroalgae, and oysters, and he advocates for watershed and marine conservation.

Benthic Ecology Laboratory web page