David Lewis, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Ecosystem Science in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of South Florida. His research focuses on ways ecologically important elements-water, nutrients, carbon, energy-move through ecosystems, passing quickly through some settings and getting trapped in others. This research is essential for understanding many pressing issues of our day, such as the sequestration of carbon or the transit of pollution from land into water bodies. He is particularly interested in how the cycling of these materials depends on biodiversity, the arrangement and changing use of landscapes, and the organization of social systems. He primarily explores these interests by studying the beneficial services performed by aquatic habitats and the land-water interface. He also has a background in community ecology, and explores factors that regulate biodiversity and mediate species interactions. His research habitats grade from relatively unmanaged to intensively human-dominated, and he is involved in a new program to study the social drivers and ecological outcomes of water redistribution. He is also currently developing an international research collaboration with institutions in France around the challenge of water security. He holds a Ph.D. in limnology and marine science, and his M.S. in oceanography and limnology, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Kansas.