Welcome to the Department of Biology
Bob Thacker, Interim Chair
Our department is at the heart of biological sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, including award-winning programs in undergraduate and graduate teaching, research, and service to our community. We have collaborative ties to all major branches of UAB and prepare our students for careers in the dynamic fields of healthcare and biological research.
Our undergraduate curriculum provides a strong foundation in biology, preparing students for careers in medicine, dentistry, optometry, nursing, veterinary sciences, law, biodiversity conservation, ecology, microbiology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics, as well as graduate studies in all fields of biology. A high percentage of our undergraduates are admitted to graduate and professional programs in top-ranked schools nationwide.
Back to the Antarctic: Has Climate Change Pushed King Crabs into Warmer Waters?
University of Alabama at Birmingham PhD student CJ Brothers and UAB research associate Margaret Amsler are on their way to Antarctica, hoping to track the population status of king crabs.It is believed that the crabs are moving up the Antarctic slope towards the Antarctic shelf as the waters around the southernmost content warm due to climate change.
"The concern is that king crabs don't like cold water, so we're a little bit worried that they have the potential to move up the slope, towards the shelf," and into a new ecosystem, Brothers told AL.com. "These crabs, they're like skeleton-breaking crabs, they feed on sea stars and things like that, so they have the potential to really change the ecosystem at the bottom of the ocean. . . . We're worried that as they move towards a new spot, they're going to be eating basically everything in their path."
Read the full article on AL.com.
Dan Warner Selected as 2014 Bartholomew Award Winner
The Department of Biology congratulates Dan Warner, who was selected as the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology's 2014 Bartholomew Award winner.
Dr. Warner holds a BS degree in Animal Ecology from Iowa State University (1998) and a MS degree in Biology from Virginia Tech (2001). After receiving his PhD from the University of Sydney (2007), he returned to Iowa State University as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology. Starting in fall 2012, he is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
