PhD Students

Alex Walus is currently a PhD student of Interdisciplinary Ecology in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and is affiliated with the Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences department and Nature Coast Biological Station, advised by Dr. Marc Hensel. She earned her M.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife (2021) and B.S. in Environmental Biology (2018) from Michigan State University. Between her master’s and PhD, she worked as a scientist in environmental consulting and as a fisheries technician for Michigan DNR.

Alex is a coastal community ecologist broadly interested in the effects of climate change on food webs across multiple systems. To explore how coastal communities are changing and will continue to change, she uses experimental ecology, surveys, and big data to answer large scale questions. She is particularly interested in how seagrass fish communities have changed temporally and spatially in relation to temperature and habitat across the Gulf Coast. She is also interested in how the strength of top-down control affects marsh invertebrate community structure and ecosystem function along a tropicalization gradient.

Kay Schlachter is a PhD student in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and is affiliated with the Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences department and Nature Coast Biological Station. She is currently co-advised by Marc Hensel and Laura Reynolds. Kay earned her B.S. in environmental science from the University of Virginia (2022) and has worked as a researcher at the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER, the University of Iceland Husavik Research Station, and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.

Kay’s research is focused on the interactions between foundation species and marine invertebrate communities. She conducts her work in the seagrass meadows along the Nature Coast of Florida and is particularly interested in the role of bivalve community diversity in seagrass ecosystem health and function. She also works on the Chandeleur Islands Restoration Project for Seagrasses, examining the genetic diversity of the only natural seagrass meadow in Louisiana.

Alex Walus is currently a PhD student of Interdisciplinary Ecology in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and is affiliated with the Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences department and Nature Coast Biological Station, advised by Dr. Marc Hensel. She earned her M.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife (2021) and B.S. in Environmental Biology (2018) from Michigan State University. Between her master’s and PhD, she worked as a scientist in environmental consulting and as a fisheries technician for Michigan DNR.

Alex is a coastal community ecologist broadly interested in the effects of climate change on food webs across multiple systems. To explore how coastal communities are changing and will continue to change, she uses experimental ecology, surveys, and big data to answer large scale questions. She is particularly interested in how seagrass fish communities have changed temporally and spatially in relation to temperature and habitat across the Gulf Coast. She is also interested in how the strength of top-down control affects marsh invertebrate community structure and ecosystem function along a tropicalization gradient.

Shea Husband is currently a Biological Scientist at the Nature Coast Biological Station and a Ph.D. student in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. He splits his time between Dr. Marc Hensel, Dr. Robbie Lamb, and Dr. Mike Allen’s research programs and has broad interests in aquatic ecology. He earned his M.S. in Wildlife Ecology (2023) and B.S. in Marine Sciences (2020) from the University of Florida and has previously worked for Florida’s FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

Shea’s research interests focus on how changes in climate patterns and environmental stressors (primarily temperature, salinity and seasons) drive community assemblages and behavior in fishes and how these patterns change across habitats. His research occurs across multiple systems from coastal rivers and offshore hardbottom in the Gulf of Mexico to rocky reef walls in the Eastern Pacific.