Dr. Daru discusses the vital importance of seagrasses in maintaining the health of the oceans: how seagrasses sustain marine life, stabilize shorelines, and reduce ocean acidification. He explains the impact of rising ocean temperature on seagrasses and the concern about how well seagrasses can adapt to the increasing ocean heat. Image: Belmont Media Center
Barnabas Daru, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Biology and Curator of the Ruth O’Brien Herbarium at Texas A&M University. His research has sought to address two main goals that are fundamental to ecology and evolutionary biology of plants. The first is to gain a mechanistic understanding of the processes by which plant species diversity has evolved and is currently distributed and maintained. The second is to leverage specimen accessibility and emerging innovations in informatics, phylogenetics, and niche modeling to develop tools for conservation that will mitigate future biodiversity loss. To achieve these goals, he has built a field and laboratory research program that is highly collaborative and draws expertise from diverse approaches in science to characterize broad biodiversity patterns. Funding for the lab comes from the National Science Foundation.