Dr. Mark Butler
Professor, Eminent Scholar, and Walter & Rosalie Goldberg Chair of Tropical Ecology
Mark received a B.A. from Wittenberg University (1980), a M.S. from the Ohio State University (1983), and a Ph.D. from Florida State University (1988). He held postdoctoral positions at Florida State University and the University of Wisconsin before joining the faculty at Old Dominion University in 1990, where he was a recipient of the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, Virginia’s highest faculty honor. Florida International University became Mark’s new academic home in 2020.
For over 30 years, the Florida Keys and Caribbean have been the home base for Mark’s research on which he and his graduate students have published over 150 scientific articles and book chapters on tropical marine ecology. Much of his research has focused on the ecology of spiny lobsters. Currently, he and his students are studying experimental restoration of marine habitats as a means to better understand the ecology and sustainability of spiny lobster, coral reefs, and shallow-water sponge communities.