Rate My Professor Erik Noonburg

Erik Noonburg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University, specializing in Biology. He joined the faculty in 2006 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012. Noonburg earned an A.B. with honors in Biological Sciences from the University of Chicago in 1994 and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2000. His doctoral dissertation, titled "Resource Allocation, Foraging Activity, and Life History Optimization in a Variable Environment," was advised by Roger M. Nisbet and William W. Murdoch. Before arriving at Florida Atlantic University, he held postdoctoral fellowships in the Department of Zoology at the University of Toronto from 2000 to 2003 and at the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Alberta from 2003 to 2005. He also served as a Research Associate in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 2005 to 2006.

Noonburg's research focuses on ecological theory, population dynamics, foraging behavior, and mathematical modeling. He uses mathematical models to explore how individual behavior and life history variation influence population dynamics and how feedback from population dynamics affects individual reproductive success. His work spans marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats through collaborations with field biologists. He teaches undergraduate courses such as Disease Ecology and Ecoimmunology and graduate courses including Ecological Theory (PCB 6406), Experimental Design and Biometry (PCB 6456), and Environmental Science Colloquium (EVS 6920). Key publications include "Bad neighbors: how spatially disjunct habitat degradation can cause system-wide population collapse" with James E. Byers (Ecology, 2016); "Asymmetric competition and floater dynamics: a model" with Rindy C. Anderson (Ecology, 2020); "Born at the right time? A conceptual framework linking reproduction, development, and settlement in reef fish" with J.S. Shima et al. (Ecology, 2018); "Demographic heterogeneity and the dynamics of open populations" with A. Chen et al. (Ecology, 2015); "More harm than good: When invader vulnerability to predators enhances impact on native species" with J.E. Byers (Ecology, 2005); and "Scale dependent effects of biotic resistance to biological invasion" with J.E. Byers (Ecology, 2003). He has mentored graduate students in Integrative Biology and Environmental Science programs, including current Ph.D. and M.S. students.