Dr. Scott Mangan

Associate Professor

Education

• PhD: Ecology, Indiana University – Bloomington (2006)
• MS: Ecology, University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh (1999)
• BS: Botany, University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh (1996)

Courses Taught

• Biological Seminar (BIO 4021)
• Graduate Seminar (BIO 6001)

Research Interests

• Community Ecology
• Tropical Biology
• Plant-Symbiont Interactions
• Plant-Soil Feedbacks

The Mangan lab seeks to identify the mechanisms that lead to the organization and function of biological communities.  Many of the major hypotheses on how plant communities are assembled have centered on competitive interactions.  However, plants are associated with a wide variety of microbes that directly influence their fitness, and therefore may serve as important determinants of plant community assembly.  One of the major goals of our research program is to re-evaluate classic theories in plant ecology within the context of plant-microbial interactions. Through a combination of field and greenhouse experiments, molecular approaches, and analytical models, we find that plant-microbial interactions are important drivers of plant species coexistence, relative abundance patterns, and ecosystem functioning in both tropical and temperate plant communities. 

Representative Publications (Google Scholar)