T. M. Anderson

T. M. Anderson is a Professor in the Department of Biology at Wake Forest University, affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences. He leads the Savanna and Grassland Ecology group (SAGE), conducting extensive field research in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. His work integrates ecology, conservation, and biogeochemistry to understand plant-herbivore interactions and ecosystem dynamics in savannas.

• B.S. in Zoology, Oregon State University (1997)
• Ph.D. in Biology, Syracuse University (2004)

Dr. Anderson's research focuses on grassland and savanna ecosystems, particularly the co-evolution of plants and large herbivores in African savannas. His interests include phylogenetic community assembly, nutrient cycling, tree-grass coexistence, and fire ecology. He investigates how landscape features, predation risk, and plant forage quality influence herbivore distribution and ecosystem function.

His recent publications reflect a strong trend in global grassland ecology, nutrient dynamics, and conservation science, often using large collaborative datasets (e.g., NutNet, Snapshot Serengeti). He develops analytical tools like the plantspec R package and uses remote sensing and camera traps to study ecosystem patterns.

Scientific Awards and Grants:

• NSF Bridging Ecology and Evolution grant (2020)
• NSF multi-institution grant on Acacia clade evolution (2021)

Dr. Anderson advises several graduate students and leads a dynamic research team. His lab collaborates with institutions in Tanzania (NM-AIST) and with AI companies like SynthetAIc to classify camera trap imagery. He has secured significant external funding and mentors students in field ecology, data analysis, and conservation science.

Labs and Teams: The SAGE lab conducts fieldwork in Serengeti and collaborates on the Snapshot Serengeti project. The lab integrates ecological fieldwork with computational tools and AI for image classification.