Dr. Ranjan Muthukrishnan

Dr. Muthukrishnan’s research aims to understand, predict, and help control and prevent the spread of invasive species in Indiana and beyond. These invasive organisms – which can be plants, animals, or even bacteria or fungi – are transported through human activity to new environments, where their growth may not be limited by natural predators or other constraints of their native habitats. By definition, an invasive species causes some type of harm that affects humans either directly (such as through illness, property damage, or agricultural impacts) or indirectly by disrupting ecosystems in ways that make them more vulnerable to stresses.

Education 

• B.A. Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley
• Ph.D. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Current projects

• Managing Midwestern aquatic invasions in a changing climate
  

Publications

• Prediction of starry stonewort (Nitellopsis obtusa) invasion risk in upper Midwest (USA) lakes using ecological niche models. Aquatic Botany, 2018

• Response of the invasive alga starry stonewort (Nitellopsis obtusa) to control efforts in a Minnesota lake. Lake and Reservoir Management, 2018

• Environmental filtering and competitive exclusion drive biodiversity‐invasibility relationships in shallow lake plant communities. J Ecol, 2018

• Mechanisms of resilience: Strong positive feedbacks produce alternate stable states dynamics on a tropical reef. Journal of Ecology, 2016

• Evaluating the role of landscape in the spread of invasive species: The case of the biomass crop Miscanthus × giganteus. Ecological Modeling, 2015

• Mitigating the Potential for Invasive Spread of the Exotic Biofuel Crop, Miscanthus x gigaenteus. Biological invasions. 2015