Professor
Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, Miami Ecological Big Data Initiative, Ecology Research Center, Center for Aquatic and Watershed Sciences, Biology
Michael J. Vanni
Biographical Information
My lab studies the ecology of food webs, ecosystems, and watersheds, and most of our research occurs in freshwaters. Current research areas include:
- Animal-mediated nutrient cycling, including understanding variation among individuals using principles of ecological stoichiometry and metabolic ecology, and the importance of animals at the ecosystem scale
- Long-term response of a lake (reservoir) ecosystem to changes in agricultural practices, and how internal processes such as animal-mediated nutrient cycling provide resilience in terms of the lake response
- How nutrients, light, and other factors mediate energy and nutrient flow through food chains
My lab takes a diverse approach to research, including whole-ecosystem studies, field and lab experiments, meta-analyses/syntheses, and modeling. In my lab, research is a collaboration among undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and research associates.
Selected Publications
- Vanni, MJ, PB McIntyre, and 72 others. 2017. A global database of nitrogen and phosphorous excretion rates of aquatic animals. Ecology 98:1475. doi 10.1002/ecy.1792
- Sitters, J, ES Bakker, MP Veldhuis, GF Veen, HO Venterink and MJ Vanni. 2017. The stoichiometry of nutrient release by terrestrial herbivores and its ecosystem consequences. Frontiers in Earth Scicence 5:32 doi 10.3389/feart.2017.00032
- Atkinson, CL, KA Capps, AT Rugenski and MJ Vanni. 2017. Consumer-driven nutrient dynamics in freshwater ecosystems: from individuals to ecosystems. Biological Reviews. Early online doi: 10.1111/brv.12318
- Vanni, MJ and PB McIntyre. 2016. Predicting nutrient excretion of aquatic animals with metabolic ecology and ecological stoichiometry: a global synthesis. Ecology. 97:3460-3471 doi: 10.1002/ecy.1582
- *Downs, KN, NM Hayes**, AM Rock**, MJ Vanni and MJ González. 2016. Light and nutrient supply mediate intraspecific variation in the nutrient stoichiometry of juvenile fish. Ecosphere 7(9):e01452 doi: 10.1002/ecs2.1452
- Mehner, T, K Attermeyer, M Brauns, S Brothers, J Diekmann, U Gaedke, H-P Grossart, J Kohler, B Lischke, N Meyer, K Scharnweber, J Syväranta, MJ Vanni and S Hilt. 2016. Weak response of animal allochthony and production to enhanced supply of terrestrial leaf litter in nutrient-rich lakes. Ecosystems 19:329-341 doi: 10.1007/s10021-015-9933-2
- Hölker, F, MJ Vanni, J Kuiper, C Meile, H-P Grossart, P Stief, R Adrian, A Lorke, O Dellwig, A Brand, M Hupfer, W Mooji, G Nützmann and J Lewandowski. 2015. Tube-dwelling invertebrates: tiny ecosystem engineers have large effects in lake ecosystems. Ecological Monographs 85:333-351.
- **Hayes, NM, MJ Vanni, WH Renwick and MJ Horgan**. 2015. Drought and land use interactively affect lake phytoplankton nutrient limitation status. Ecology 96:392-402.
- Scharnweber K, J Syväranta, S Hilt, M Brauns, MJ Vanni, and T Mehner. 2014. Whole-lake experimental addition of particulate organic carbon increases allochthony of benthic consumers. Ecology 95:1496-1505.
- Schmitz, OJ, PR Raymond, JA Estes, WA Kurz, GW Holtgrieve, ME Ritchie, DE Schindler, AC Spivak, RW Wilson, MA Bradford, V Christansen, L Deegan, V Smetacek, MJ Vanni, and CC Wilmers. 2014. Animating the carbon cycle. Ecosystems 17:344-359.
- Vanni, MJ, G Boros and PB McIntyre. 2013. When are fish sources vs. sinks of nutrients in ecosystems? Ecology 94:2195-2206.
- Solomon, CT, DA Bruesewitz, DC Richardson, KC Rose, MC Van de Bogert, PC Hanson, TK Kratz, B Larget, R. Adrian, BL Babin, C-Y Chu, DP Hamilton, EE Gaiser, S Hendricks, V Istánovics, A Laas, DM O'Donnell, ML Pace, PA Staehr, T Torgersen, MJ Vanni, KC Weathers and G Zhu. 2013. Ecosystem respiration: drivers of daily variability and background respiration in lakes around the globe. Limnology and Oceanography 58:849-866. 10.4319/lo.2013.58.3.0849
- **Knoll, LB, MJ Vanni, WH Renwick, EK Ditman* and JA Gephart*. 2013. Temperate reservoirs are large carbon sinks and small CO2 sources: Results from high-resolution carbon budgets. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 27:52-64. 10.1002/gbc.20020, 2013
**graduate student author
*undergraduate student author
Courses Taught
- BIO 209H Fundamentals of Ecology (honors section)
- BIO 463/563 Limnology
- BIO 672 Ecosystem and Global Ecology