Welcome to the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University!

The Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior is a multidisciplinary program of study and research leading to a Master's specialization or dual-major Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior and one of the traditional disciplines offered by EEBB participating departments.

The questions below are of interest to us at Michigan State University. Our Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior faculty and graduate students ponder these and many other fascinating questions. Do these sorts of questions interest you?

• How do evolutionary changes in component populations influence community structure and ecosystem function?
  
  
• Are ecological communities structured by universal "assembly-rules" or is each community a unique product of history, chance and environment?
  
  
• Can demography and population genetics provide conservation biologists with accurate assessments of minimum viable population size?

What ecological and genetic processes promote (or inhibit) the divergence of populations and, ultimately, the process of speciation?		Is there a useful resolution to the conflict between gene vs species phylogenies?
How can we study the process of adaptation by natural selection? Can we rigorously distinguish that process from other mechanisms of evolutionary change? How do we identify the phenotypic "targets" of natural selection?		What ecological and genetic factors mediate the tensions between conflict and cooperation that exist within such diverse "collectives" as genomes, populations and communities?

• Can we understand the structure and function of genomes by atomizing them into component genes and studying these genes individually (or as pieces of defined pathways), as has historically been done by geneticists? Or are interactions among genes (and pathways) so prevalent that we must study genomes more holistically?
  
  
• How does behavioral ecology help explain community structure and ecosystem function?
  
  
• How does spatial and landscape ecology relate to the preservation of biodiversity?

By their very nature, ecology, evolutionary biology and behavior are subjects that cut across the lines of traditional university departments. The Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior Program (EEBB) at MSU is designed to emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of these fields and other biological sciences such as genetics, developmental and molecular biology.

Michigan State is well-known for advanced training and research in population, community, ecosystem and evolutionary ecology; behavioral and physiological ecology; forest and agrosystem ecology; systematics including biochemical evolution and molecular systematics; evolutionary morphology; phylogenetics; paleobiology; evolutionary epistemology; and mechanisms of evolution such as population and quantitative genetics, microevolution and speciation. This diversity of research programs and interaction among a world class faculty at MSU are the pillars of our program.

We hope that you will find the EEBB Program at MSU an exciting opportunity to carry out graduate studies. We are looking forward to hearing from you and welcome your application for admission.

 
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