Dr. Ben Martin received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin- Madison where he worked with Dr. Jake Vander Zanden on the food web structure of several Wisconsin lakes as well as the Great Lakes. He received his BS in Environmental Science from Juniata College where he began his research career working on the effects of fracking and endocrine disruptors on native food webs.

 

Dr. Martin joined the ECI in the summer of 2023 where he is working with Drs. Stuart Jones and Julian Torres-Dowdall. His current research is focused on a whole-lake experimental increase of dissolved organic carbon in a lake at the University of Notre Dame's Environmental Research Site (UNDERC) in the Michigan Upper Peninsula. Through the experiment, we are interested in how various taxa respond to the shift in abiotic conditions. This experiment is a unique opportunity for researchers to understand how future biological communities may respond to anticipated climate change induced lake browning. Dr. Martin's research will continue to develop new questions surrounding the topic of lake browning and aquatic communities.