Todd Palmer, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

2024 Awardee

The fields of ecology and biology meet in the study of humanity’s relationship with our environment  — paramount to the health of both. Biology Professor Todd Palmer is considered by many to be a leading researcher in both fields. Palmer is a community ecologist who studies how people directly and indirectly impact environmental change with a focus on ecosystems in East Africa and the Bahamas. Through his research, he aims to understand how species loss or invasion impacts ecological functions, which could inform how best to restore damaged ecosystems.

“To answer these questions in the most impactful way,” Palmer says, “we combine long-term, large-scale experiments, globally distributed experimental networks, modeling   and observations — and employ a suite of modern methods. They include DNA metabarcoding, isotope tracing, drone surveys, remote sensing, and novel physiological approaches.”

Palmer has published more than 100 peer-reviewed research papers that have been cited more than 15,000 times. Twenty-eight of those papers are from the past five years. Some of them were selected by prestigious publications such as Science, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Palmer also was the subject of significant media attention for a recent piece published in Science highlighting his work with native and invasive ant species in African savanna ecosystems.

He was recently named a Fellow of the Pan-African Scientific Research Council, a prestigious group of like-minded African and Africa-focused researchers. Palmer has received recognitions for his teaching, including the UF Student Council Excellence in Teaching Award and two International Educator of the Year awards.

“Dr. Palmer is also a compelling and well-loved teacher and mentor to undergraduate and graduate students, and many of his research mentees have developed blossoming careers,” says Brad Barbazuk, a professor and chair of the Department of Biology. “I am enormously grateful that someone with his talent plays a prominent role in our department’s and college’s research portfolio.”