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| Name |
Hay, Mark E. |
| Location
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Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Primary Field
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Environmental Sciences and Ecology |
| Secondary Field
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Evolutionary Biology |
 Election Citation
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Hay's research provides insights on critical aspects of the conservation and restoration of coral reefs and elucidates the ecological and evolutionary processes affecting the establishment and impact of invasive species in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial systems. |
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Research Interests
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Most of Mark Hay's research focuses on manipulative field experiments on reefs in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and South Pacific, but his lab has also worked in deserts, streams, and lakes to test the robustness of their findings concerning how biotic interactions affect the ecology and evolution of populations and communities in general. Field experiments are followed by chemical investigations and laboratory studies to determine the chemically-mediated mechanisms controlling outcomes of consumer-prey, competitive, and host-pathogen interactions, as well as the chemical cues impacting juvenile recruitment. These studies have demonstrated the critical importance of generalist herbivores in selecting for plant defensive traits, the role of predators in selecting for certain herbivores to specialize on toxic plants to acquire safe sites for living and feeding, and the critical role of herbivore diversity in maintaining the structure and function of coral reefs by suppressing allelopathic seaweeds that can kill corals following contact. The fundamental research from Hay's lab provides insights on critical aspects of the conservation and restoration of coral reefs and elucidates the ecological and evolutionary processes affecting the establishment and impact of invasive species in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial systems. |
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