Dr. Marc Hensel is a Research Assistant Professor with a joint appointment at the Nature Coast Biological Station and the Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences department at the University of Florida. He earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Biology from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2020 and both his M.S. in Zoology (2013) and B.S. in Zoology (2010) from the University of Florida. After a post-doc at Duke University and at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, he returned to the University of Florida in 2024. At UF, he is affiliated faculty in the School for Natural Resources and the Environment, Center for Coastal Solutions, and is funded faculty with the UF Gulf Scholars Program. He is currently a National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program Early Career Fellow.
Dr. Hensel is an ecologist who works at the interface of community and ecosystem ecology, quantifying how species interactions shape coastal ecosystem structure and function. His research focuses on preparing coastal management for the future, using experiments, restoration, and modeling to quantify how global change reshapes the landscape of interactions that power biodiversity and climate resilience. His work on megafauna, predators, biodiversity, and watershed management spans marshes, underwater grasses, mangroves, and oyster and coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and along the U.S. Atlantic coast. His research uses experiments, geographic surveys, and big data ecology to describe how community structure affects coastal climate resilience, how climate migrants restructure food webs and fisheries, and how large animals control coastal plant ecosystems. He enjoys working with regional stakeholders on applied issues to develop local and regional restoration and management strategies that mitigate global change effects.