​Aquatic communities are experiencing rapid change driven by increasing disturbances due to climate change. Understanding how animals cope with rapidly changing environmental conditions is essential for their conservation. As an evolutionary behavioral ecologist, my goal is to understand the relationship between variation in environmental conditions and the variation in behavioral response of the individual. My research focuses primarily on the behavioral ecology of invertebrates and reef fishes. My students and I use a combination of laboratory studies, field surveys and computer modeling to evaluate and predict the impact of changing environmental conditions on population structure and response. In my graduate Behavioral Ecology course, I teach students models of optimal behavioral strategies and the complex evolutionary tradeoffs between morphology, life history, ecology and behavior. In my Marine Ecology course, I teach students how to design, collect and analyze field observations to address specific ecological hypotheses. In my Ocean and Climate Sustainability course, I teach students about our changing climate, its impacts on the ocean, and how to effectively communicate the science of climate change to the general public. I also work closely with academic and government biologists to create individual-based population models of key species to be used for scenario planning and population forecasting. My hope is that the behavioral plasticity of animals will help them to persist in our rapidly changing climate until we can find sustainable solutions to the loss of critical habitats.
Lab Notes
Congratulations to Childress lab alumni Randi Sims, PhD and Kara Noonan Titus, PhD for completion of your doctoral degrees.
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Welcome to the Childress lab Meredith Moore (MS student).

Congratulations Jeyda Bolukbasi, Amber Fox, Paige Little, Peyton Parker, and William Vuong for receiving Summer CI Research Fellowships.

Congratulation to Luke Stoeber for his Outstanding Graduate in Learning Award.

Congratulations to Anna Metzger for her Outstanding Senior in Discovery Award.

Congratulations to our graduating senior thesis students Ashley Gambrell, Emily Griffin (honors), Anna Metzger, and Nick Williams. 

Congratulations to our graduating seniors Shea Ehrhard, Amanda Kellerhals, Graham McAlister, Neil Parikh, Colin Revercomb, Megan Taylor, Addie Thomas, and Alex Vallone.

Congratulations to our newly minted Dr. Tokea (Kea) Payton who graduated this December.

Congratulations Tara Cronin on her Biological Sciences Professional Development Graduate Research Assistantship and Theodore Roosevelt Grant from the American Museum of Natural History.

Congratulations to Sarah Rider on her ​National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Slocum Lunz Foundation Grant, and Sigma Xi Grant.

Congratulations to Luke Stoeber on his Lerner Gray Memorial Fund Grant  for Marine Research from the American Museum of National History and BSGPD Grant.

Congratulations Camille White on her Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan Earth and Marine Science Fellowship (NASA/NOAA), SciSAB Grant, and International Women's Fishing Association Scholarship.

The Childress lab received a ​National Science Foundation RAPID award from Biological Oceanography titled "A comparison of acute heat stress and fish abundance influencing coral survival".
Recent Publications
Eakin, C.M., S.F. Heron, S.R. Connolly and 171 authors. 2025. Severe and widespread coral reef damage during the 2014-2017 Global Coral Bleaching Event. Nature Communications In press.

Baker, A.M., M.J. Childress, and J.A. Baeza. 2025. Historical biogeography of spiny lobsters in the Genus Panulirus (Achelata: Palinuridae). Journal of Biogeography https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.70048
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Childress, M.J., C. Holt, and R.D. Bertelsen. 2024. Displaced juvenile and subadult Caribbean spiny lobsters show strong orientation toward home dens. Fisheries Research 279: 107132 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2024.107132

Payton, T.G., A.M. Metzger, M.J. Childress. 2024. Marine debris harbor unique, yet functionally similar cryptofauna communities. Integrative and Comparative Biology icae113, https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icae113 

Payton, T.G., R.J. Sims, and M.J. Childress. 2024. Abundance, patterns, and taxa associations of anthropogenic marine debris on reefs in the middle Florida Keys. Frontiers in Marine Science 11:1412858. http://doi.2010.3389/fmars.2024.1412858

Smith, K.M., L. Chamberlain, S. Whitaker, A. Kimbrel and M.J. Childress. 2023. Factors influencing stoplight parrotfish territoriality and social structure in the middle Florida Keys. Environmental Biology of Fishes (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-023-01394-1

Titus, K., L. O’Connell, K. Matthee and M.J. Childress. 2022. The influence of foureye butterflyfish (Chaetodon capistratus) and Symbiodiniaceae on the transmission of stony coral tissue loss disease. Frontiers in Marine Science 9: 800423. doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.800423
​Butterflyfish feeding on SCTLD Video

Sims, R.J., M. Tallapragada, T.G. Payton, K.R. Noonan, K.L. Prosser, and M.J. Childress. 2021. University experiences of marine science research and outreach beyond the classroom. Integrative and Comparative Biology doi.org/10.1093/icb/icab104
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Noonan, K., T. Fair, K. Matthee, K. Sox, K. Smith, and M.J. Childress. 2021. Reef fish associations with natural and artificial structures in the Florida Keys. Oceans 2(3), 634-648 https://www.mdpi.com/2673-1924/2/3/36 

Tallapragada, M., K.L. Prosser, K.F. Braffitt, K.E. Bridgeford, E.C. Gleaton, M.G. Saverance, K.R. Noonan, T.G. Payton, R.J. Sims, K.M. Smith, and M.J. Childress. 2021. Something Very Fishy: An informal STEAM project making a case for ocean conservation and climate change. Environmental Communication DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2021.1913208

Noonan, K.R. and M.J. Childress. 2020. Association of butterflyfishes and stony coral tissue loss disease in the Florida Keys​. Coral Reefs. DOI: 10.1007/s00338-020-01986-8
News & Blogs
The Heroic Effort to Save Florida's Coral Reef from Devastating Heat. 
​- The Conversation

Before and After Coral Bleaching            - YouTube Video

Trash Stowaways
- Keys Weekly

Clemson Marine Research
@clemsonmarineresearch

Together: SVF Coral Reef Adventure       - YouTube Video

Changing in a Changing World
- Integrative and Comparative Biology

Something Very Fishy Online 
- Volume 5, Issue 2, March 2024
​ ​
Teaching the Message
​- 2022 Clemson News

SVF Takes New Approach
- 2020 Clemson News

Something Very Fishy
​- 2019 Clemson World Magazine

​Coral Crusader
- 2018 Clemson World Research

​Dr. Michael Childress
Dept. of Biological Sciences
Dept. of Forestry and Environmental Conservation 
Clemson University
Clemson, SC 29634-0314
​864.985.2384
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