Profile
Michael Childress
Biological Sciences
Associate Professor
Forestry & Environmental Conservation
Jordan Hall 105 [Lab]
Jordan Hall 105A [Office]
Educational Background
PhD, Biological Sciences, Florida State University, 1995
MA, Zoology, University of California at Berkeley, 1990
BS, Biology/Marine Science, University of Tampa, 1987
Profile/About Me
I am an evolutionary behavioral ecologist studying the impact of climate change and behavioral adaptations in marine animals. My teaching and research focuses on understanding the impact of habitat loss on the conservation of marine communities. I enjoy training graduate students, undergraduate students and teachers in the methods of experimental marine ecology.
Research Interests
Shallow water marine communities are one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. Changes in water quality due to nutrient runoff, freshwater diversion, ocean acidification and global warming are having major impacts on the structure and function of these important communities and the fisheries they support. My research focuses on studying the impact of habitat loss and drought on blue crabs, lobsters and reef fishes along the southeastern US. Through a combination of field surveys, manipulative experiments, laboratory behavioral observations and individual-based modeling our research attempts to build models that can accurately forecast the response of these species to future changes in climate and habitat quality. Behavioral adaptations may be the most important attributes for resilience to habitat loss so more work is needed to understand how behavioral resilience is generated and maintained in these species.
Research Group (Lab)
Tokea Payton - PhD student - Biological Sciences
Tara Cronin - PhD student - Biological Sciences
Sarah Rider - PhD student - Biological Sciences
Luke Stoeber - MS student - Biological Sciences
Camille White - MS student - Biological Sciences
Courses Taught
SUST 2040 Ocean and Climate Sustainability
BIOL 3940 Something Very Fishy Creative Inquiry
BIOL 4480 Marine Ecology
BIOL 4940 Conservation of Marine Resources Creative Inquiry
BIOL 8100 Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology
BIOL 8400 Understanding Biological Inquiry
Selected Publications
# graduate student, *undergraduate student
Childress, M.J., C. Holt*, and R.D. Bertelsen. 2024. Displaced juvenile and subadult Caribbean spiny lobsters show strong orientation toward home dens. Fisheries Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2024.107132
Payton, T.G.#, A.M. Metzger*, M.J. Childress. 2024. Marine debris harbor unique functionally similar cryptofauna communities. Integrative and Comparative Biology icae113, https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icae113.
Baeza, J.A., A. Baker#, M.J. Childress, and S. Piro. 2024. Nuclear and mitochondrial genome datasets for spiny lobsters genus Panulirus (Decapoda: Achelata: Palinuridae). Data in Brief Volume 55, August 2024, 110588 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2024.110588
Payton, T.G.#, R.J. Sims#, and M.J. Childress. 2024. Abundance, patterns, and taxa associations of anthropogenic marine debris on reefs in the middle Florida Keys. Frontiers in Marine Science 11:1412858. http://doi.2010.3389/fmars.2024.1412858
Smith, K.M.#, L. Chamberlain*, S. Whitaker*, A. Kimbrel* and M.J. Childress. 2023. Factors influencing stoplight parrotfish territoriality and social structure in the middle Florida Keys. Environmental Biology of Fishes (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-023-01394-1
Titus, K.#, L. O'Connell#, K. Matthee*, M.J. Childress. 2022. The influence of foureye butterflyfish (Chaetodon capistratus) and Symbiodiniacae on the transmission of stony coral tissue loss disease. Frontiers in Marine Science http://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.800423
Sims, R.J#., M. Tallapragada, T.G. Payton#, K.R. Noonan#, K.L. Prosser, and M.J. Childress. 2021. University experiences of marine science research and outreach beyond the classroom. Integrative and Comparative Biology http://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icab104
Tallapragada, M., K.L. Prosser, K.F. Braffitt*, K.E. Bridgeford*, E.C. Gleaton*, M.G. Saverance*, K.R. Noonan#, T.G. Payton#, R.J. Sims#, K.M. Smith#, and M.J. Childress. 2021. Something Very Fishy: An informal STEAM project making a case for ocean conservation and climate change. Environmental Communication http://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2021.1913208
Noonan, K.#, T. Fair*, K. Matthee*, K. Sox*, K. Smith# and M.J. Childress. 2021. Reef fish associations with natural and artificial structures in the Florida Keys. Oceans 2(3) http://doi.org/10.3390/oceans2030036
Noonan, K.R.# and M.J. Childress. 2020. Association of butterflyfishes and stony coral tissue loss disease in the Florida Keys. Coral Reefs. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-01986-8
Smith, K.M.#, T.G. Payton#, R.J. Sims#, C.S. Stroud*, R.C. Jeanes*, T.B. Hyatt*, and M.J. Childress. 2019. Impacts of consecutive bleaching events on transplanted coral colonies in the Florida Keys. Coral Reefs. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-019-01823-7
Moody, K.N., J.L.K. Wren, D.R. Kobayashi, M.J. Blum, M.B. Ptacek, R.W. Blob, R.J. Toonen, H.L. Schoenfuss and M.J. Childress. 2019. Evidence of local adaptation in a waterfall climbing Hawaiian goby fish derived from coupled biophysical modeling of larval dispersal and post-settlement selection. BMC Evolutionary Biology http://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1413-4
Smith, K.M., B.E. Quirk-Royal, K. Drake-Lavelle and M.J. Childress. 2018. Influence of ontogenetic phase and resource availability on parrotfish foraging preferences in the Florida Keys (USA). Marine Ecology Progress Series Vol. 603: 175–187. http://doi.org/10.3354/meps12718
Selected Talks
2023 - Twelfth International Conference and Workshop on Lobsters, Perth, Australia
Heading home: Displaced juvenile and subadult Caribbean spiny lobsters show strong orientation toward home dens.
2022 - Diversity in Science Speaker Series – Clemson University COSMIC – Online
The importance of diversity in coral reef communities and marine science educators https://ensemble.clemson.edu/Watch/z5E6KxNn
2022 - Ecology & Natural Resources Seminar Series – Clemson Univ. FEC – Online
Adapting to a Changing Climate: The role of individual behavioral variation in shallow water marine communities https://ensemble.clemson.edu/Watch/Bb9y8W5Z
2022 - Benthic Ecology Meeting, Portsmouth, NH
Show me the way to go home: Homing behaviors and long-distance dispersal in Caribbean spiny lobsters.
2021 - National Marine Educators Association Conference (Online)
Something Very Fishy: An ocean literacy STEAM exhibit for elementary schools https://youtu.be/HLmqaG54vUY
2021 - Something Very Fishy: An ocean literacy STEAM exhibit impacts how children, teachers, and university students think about science - Biology Beyond the Classroom Symposium – SICB 2021 Online
2020 - ACE Basin Research Symposium, Edisto Island, SC
Seasonal and annual variation in salinity drives population structure of ACE basin blue crabs
2016 - Adaptations in a changing climate: Lessons from creative inquiry - Focus on Creative Inquiry – Plenary, Clemson, SC
2015 - With a little help from my friends: The evolution of social behavior in a climate of change - Ralph W. Yerger Distinguished Alumni Lecture, FSU, Tallahassee, FL
Memberships
Benthic Ecology Meeting Society (president)
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
National Marine Educators Association
Animal Behavior Society
Ecological Society of America
International Society of Behavioral Ecology
Honors and Awards
2021 - Marine Educator of the Year - SC Marine Educators Association
2019 - Excellence in Student Engagement - College of Science, Clemson University
2015 - Ralph W. Yerger Distinguished Alumni - Biological Sciences, Florida State University
2015 - Phil and Mary Bradley Award for Mentorship in Creative Inquiry, Clemson University
2015 - Teaching Award of Excellence (> 6 years experience) CAFLS, Clemson University
2008 - Teacher of the Year Award (< 10 years experience) CAFLS, Clemson University
Outreach
We have created an elementary school marine science STEAM program called Something Very Fishy. It combines a musical theatre puppet show with a hands-on science exhibit to teach kids about climate change and the impacts on our ocean life. Clemson creative inquiry students design and man these exhibits during a post-performance imaginary field trip through the Florida Keys where the kids explore mangroves, seagrass and coral reefs, transplant corals to the reef, dive to the Aquarius underwater habitat, and help identify live marine invertebrates. Through this program children grades K-5 learn about being a responsible steward for our oceans and how they can make a difference in saving our planet.
Links
Childress Lab Home Page
Childress Lab Coral Reef Research
Childress Lab Marine Biology Outreach
Conservation of Marine Resources CI Blog
Something Very Fishy Online
