Researcher Spotlight
Justin Neal Murdock, Associate Professor of Biology at Tennessee Tech University
Justin Neal Murdock, Ph.D., is an associate professor of biology at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, TN.
“Generally speaking, I am an aquatic ecologist. My work focuses on stream, lake, and wetland ecosystems function and how they respond to environmental change. Specifically, I study a few basic research areas including nutrient cycling and retention, algal ecology, and how disturbances such as floods and drought can change what organisms are present and their connections to each other.”
Hometown: Coffeyville, Kansas
Lab Details
We have a large group of graduate and undergraduate students, and technicians involved in the lab’s projects. Currently we are working on a large multi-university and agency project assessing how restored wetlands in western Tennessee and Kentucky recover their ability to improve water quality and retain nutrient pollution as they transition from agricultural fields back to floodplain wetlands. Additionally, we are working in streams around Woods Reservoir in southern Tennessee to determine how toxic chemicals in streams sediments are transferred into endangered Gray bats. Aquatic insects the live in the streams can accumulate the chemicals in their bodies and are eaten by bats and other animals after the emerge as adults. The last major research effort in my lab is centered on understanding what conditions trigger harmful algal blooms and determining how their toxins can impacts other parts of the lake and stream food web.
How did you become involved in this area of research?
I had a stream right behind my house growing up, and began “sampling” it at about age 6 when I could open the gate by myself. I guess I never really stopped playing in the creek.
“I guess I really never stopped playing in the creek.”
What are you working on that most excites you?
We are developing new methods to look at how single algal cells respond to changes in the environment. This technique uses infrared lasers routed through microscope objectives to see how a cell’s physiology changes when exposed to changing conditions like increased temperature or nutrients. With this approach, we can start pinpoint specific triggers for growth and toxin production in species of concern.
What are some of the biggest challenges in your research?
One of the biggest challenges involves trying to gain a framework of how humans are changing aquatic ecosystems when these systems are undergoing constant and quick changes by humans. In essence we are trying to hit a continuous moving target.
What are some of the biggest challenges in your research?
One of the biggest challenges involves trying to gain a framework of how humans are changing aquatic ecosystems when these systems are undergoing constant and quick changes by humans. In essence we are trying to hit a continuous moving target.
Some Fun Questions
What do you enjoy doing when you are not in your lab?
Running (I try to do 1 marathon a year) and making beer. These are not independent as I really need to do one because of the other.
What kind of music do you like?
Motown
What book do you recommend?
Kill Creek by Scott Thomas. We all need a good (fake) scare at times, and it was written by an old friend.
What’s the coolest gadget you’ve ever seen?
Boppy Infant Support Pillows. Hands down best invention I have used. Having three of these allowed me to feed my triplets all by myself in the middle of the night and let my wife sleep.
What’s on your bucket list?
Travel to several specific countries – New Zealand, Botswana, Japan. And the Moon. Mars would be cool too, but I like to eventually come back from my trips.
Who is a person throughout history you’d most like to meet?
It is hard to pick one person, but I think hanging out with Frank Sinatra for a day in Vegas would be very cool.
What is the best trip or vacation you’ve ever taken?
It’s difficult to pick one trip because there are good and bad aspects of each. My family recently took a trip to several National Parks in the Southwest. The kids are now 14 and won’t be around home for many more of these kinds of trips.
