Gary Ervin received his B.S. (1996) and Ph.D. (2000) in Biological Sciences from the University of Alabama, in Tuscaloosa. During his undergraduate and doctoral research, he studied the ecology of freshwater wetland plants, publishing several papers on the ecology of the rush, Juncus effusus. After completing his doctoral studies, Dr. Ervin held a postdoctoral research position in the Department of Entomology at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. While in Arkansas, he studied plant defense responses to insect herbivores, with an emphasis on oxidative biochemistry of plant-insect interactions. Dr. Ervin began his present faculty position in the Department of Biological Sciences at Mississippi State University in 2001. His research program at Mississippi State University has been focused on better understanding mechanisms influencing plant colonization and persistence, including research on species invasions. Dr. Ervin and his collaborators have worked with invasive plants in forests, wetlands, and prairies, but also have studied interactions between plants and insect biocontrol agents. During his two decades on the faculty at Mississippi State, Dr. Ervin has taught courses on plant ecology, invasion ecology, plant biology, aquatic botany, and global change, and he has published dozens of scientific articles on both terrestrial and wetland plant ecology. Dr. Ervin is a long-time member of the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) and is certified as a Professional Wetland Scientist by that organization. At the time of writing this text, he served as a member of the executive committee of the SWS South Central Chapter, on the mentoring committee of the SWS Latin American and Caribbean student mentoring program (HumMentor), and on the SWS education section editorial board for the online resource, Foundations in Wetlands Science.
