Robert Full’s primary interests reside in the area of comparative biomechanics and physiology. His research program quantifies whole animal performance in general and locomotion in particular as it relates to an animal's structure, physiology, and behavior. He uses biomechanical, computer simulation (dynamic musculo-skeletal modeling), physical modeling (robot and artificial muscle construction), isolated muscle, biochemical, whole-animal exercise physiology and field-tracking techniques to seek general design principles for species which have evolved different solutions to the problems of locomotion and activity in general. The study of arthropod, amphibian and reptilian locomotion continues to offer an excellent opportunity for comparison. Animals such as crabs, cockroaches, ants, beetles, scorpions, centipedes, lizards, geckos and salamanders show tremendous variation in body shape, gas transport system, leg number, musculoskeletal arrangement and mode of movement. He uses these "novel" biological designs as natural experiments to probe for basic themes concerning the relationship between morphology, body size, energetics, dynamics, control, stability, maneuverability, maximum speed and endurance. An understanding of the diverse biological solutions to the problems of locomotion contributes to the development of a general theory of energetics, neuro-mechanics and behavior. Full collaborates closely with engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists by providing biological principles to inspire the design of multi-legged robots, artificial limbs and muscles, novel control algorithms, and self-cleaning, dry adhesives.

Robert Full received his doctoral degree from SUNY Buffalo, conducted a post doc at The University of Chicago and is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor of Integrative Biology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California at Berkeley. Professor Full is the Director of the Poly-PEDAL Laboratory and the Center for interdisciplinary Bio-inspiration in Education and Research (CiBER).

Prior to graduate school most of my experience was in marine ecology, but while taking classes I became fascinated with biogeochemistry. Though I still consider myself an ecologist, my interests have broadened to encompass how ecological responses to environmental change modulate energy and resource flows in marine systems.
My dissertation research is on sediment responses to the diel oxygen cycle. Oxygen availability is a fundamental parameter that governs sediment function by driving the metabolism and behaviors of organisms inhabiting sediments. Though sediment systems have been well studied under steady-state oxygen conditions, both high and low, very little is known about how they respond to fluctuations in oxygen. Yet the diel oxygen cycle, in which oxygen peaks during the day due to photosynthesis then drops at night from respiration, is extremely common in the shallow marine systems that are critical sites of nutrient and organic matter cycling. The diel cycle affects both biogeochemical processes in sediments and the behavior and activity of sediment macrofauna that influence those processes, sometimes quite dramatically. We know that macrofaunal responses to hypoxia vary considerably among taxa, but how those behaviors change with fluctuating oxygen is almost entirely unknown. This is a major hole in our understanding of sediments’ role in coastal marine systems. The goal of my dissertation is to investigate how the diel cycle drives short-term change in behaviors and resulting sediment function, and whether it may influence estimates of diagenesis over the long term.

I graduated with a BS in Biology and a Marine Science minor from William and Mary in 2014, and began a marine science graduate program in 2015. I am now a Ph.D. candidate at the University of South Alabama at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab studying coastal sediment responses to the diel oxygen cycle.

I consider myself an integrative evolutionary ecologist. I'm interested in questions at the intersection of evolution, ecology, physiology, and behavior. I'm particularly interested in the ecological and evolutionary consequences of phenotypic plasticity, the role of phenotypic integration in constraining and facilitating adaptive evolution, trade-offs between physiological tolerance and biotic interactions, and the determinants of vulnerability to climate change. My lab works on fish, birds, insects, and amphibians depending on the question.

B.A. University of California, Los Angeles 1991
PhD University of Montana 1998
Post-doc University of California, Riverside 1999-2003
Assistant Professor, Colorado State University 2003-2009
Associate Professor, Colorado State University, 2009-2015
Professor, Colorado State University, 2015-present

My research interests are in environmental physiology. Specifically, uncovering and understanding the different physiological mechanisms of insects that allow them to live in hostile environments and whether these phylogenetically-constrained adaptations are sufficient for them to persist in a changing world.

Earned an associates degree (science) from Mesa Community College (2014), a bachelors degree (biological sciences: animal behavior and physiology) from Arizona State University (2016), a masters degree (biology) from the University of the Pacific (2018), and is currently working on a PhD (biology) in the lab of Dr. Jon Harrison (insect physiology) at Arizona State University (expected 2023).

My love of environmental physiology is linked to childhood hikes with his botanist grandpa, attending an Introductory Biology course taught by a passionate, enthusiastic community college professor, and participating in ASU’s Fundamentals of Tropical Biology study abroad program at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Gamboa, Panama as an undergraduate.

My interests revolve around understanding quantitative relationships between organismal traits and ecological dynamics at larger spatial, temporal and organizational scales. Many of my projects involve spatial ecology and movement, from the perspectives of trophic interactions, behavior, biomechanics, using a combination of laboratory observations, field instrumentation and analytical and mathematical modeling.

Broadly, I am a community ecologist who uses ecological theory and statistical modeling to link observed community patterns to underlying processes. More specifically, I am interested in the assembly and services of host-associated microbial communities, such as those in mammalian guts and on the roots and leaves of plants. Conceptually, my current research falls into three general areas: (A) patterns and processes of host-associated microbial succession; (B) host-microbiome feedbacks and alternative stable states, especially those triggered by pathogens to enable their rapid expansion; and (C) microbial community resistance and resilience to disturbance and immigration.

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at Michigan State University, co-advised by Ashley Shade, Elena Litchman, and (unofficially) Chris Klausmeier. I work on various projects related to the microbial ecology of the human gut. I also spend time working on projects related to microbial resistance to disease, and general community ecology theory. I did my dissertation at University of Michigan in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, which focused on trying understand and predict how grasslands will respond to climate change. Before that, I spent several years traveling and working public service jobs in Namibia, Ecuador, and Colombia. I did my undergraduate at Grinnell College.

I study developmental plasticity and immunity trade-offs in amphibians.

As a conservation physiologist, I’m interested in understanding how organisms cope with change.

Quantitative Ecology
Effects of environmental changes on wildlife - In fact, my Ph.D. research was on the effects of climatic, hydrological, and land-use changes on waterbirds
Wildlife population models

I am working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Ecology, University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. My undergraduate degree is Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore Pakistan. LaterI did M. Phil. in Wildlife and Ecology from the same university. In Dec, 2018, I completed PhD from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.In 2016, I completed an Erasmus+ mobility at University of Granada, Spain. I have worked with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)at the Regional Office of the Asia and Pacific (Bangkok, Thailand) , AIT Solutions (A research and business center of AIT), and as a visiting lecturer at the Mahidol University International College (MUIC), Thailand. My research interests are wildlife ecology, statistical modelling, wildlife behavior, forestry, and wildlife crimes. I am trained in wildlife modeling techniques using R statistical software.