Dr. Dorn is an aquatic ecologist with broad population and community-level interests, but he has particular interests in the effects of predators, nutrients and hydrologic variation on population limitation, trophic dynamics and animal community structure in freshwater ecosystems. Much of the work in his lab has application to the restoration and management of the freshwater Everglades where he has been working for more than 20 years.
Dr. Dorn’s lab employs a combination of repeated surveys and observational studies along with lab and field experiments to understand:
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The mechanistic effects of predators on prey populations and communities
- The effects of nutrients on wetland food webs
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The ways wetland hydrologic variation (drought, water level or flow variation) affects population sizes and productivity of small fish and macroinvertebrates that become prey for higher trophic levels (e.g., avifauna).
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Consequences of species invasions
Recent selected publications:
Fernandez, M., J. C. Trexler, C. J. Saunders, J.W. Harvey, & N. J. Dorn. 2025. Experimental increases of low-velocity discharge promote standing stocks of aquatic consumers in an oligotrophic wetland. Limnology and Oceanography 70: 3355-3369 https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.70211
Barrus, N. T., M. I. Cook & N. J. Dorn. 2025. Interpreting field measurements of juvenile growth and survival rates with population growth isoclines. Ecology 106: e70220 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70220
Pintar, M. R. & N. J. Dorn. 2025. Invasive swamp eels reduce aquatic animal diversity and disproportionately reduce prey for nesting wading birds. Scientific Reports 15:17975. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-02887-y
Peacor, S. D., N. J. Dorn, J. A. Smith. N. Peckham, M. Cherry, M. Sheriff & D. L. Kimbro. 2022. A skewed literature: few studies evaluate the contribution of predation-risk effects to natural field patterns. Ecology Letters 25: 2048-2061. http://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14075
Research Areas
- Population and Community Ecology
- Freshwater Ecology
- Predator-prey interactions and population limitation
- Ecology of freshwater crayfish
Education
- PhD, Michigan State University, Zoology
- BS, Calvin College, Biology