James Douglass grew up in Olympia, Washington, where he developed a love for nature and marine life. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Rice University in 2002 and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary in 2008. His graduate work focused on food-web ecology in seagrass beds of Chesapeake Bay, and he has continued to investigate marine benthic ecology around the world. Before joining FGCU, he completed postdoctoral fellowships with the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce, Florida, and the Northeastern University Marine Science Center in Massachusetts. Dr. Douglass joined FGCU as an Assistant Professor in 2012, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018, and achieved the rank of full Professor in 2023. Dr. Douglass’s laboratory studies how human-induced stressors—such as water pollution, climate change, and overfishing—impact structure-forming organisms like seagrasses, macroalgae, and oysters, and he advocates for watershed and marine conservation.

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Benthic Ecology Laboratory web page

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