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Lynn "Marty" Martin works in his lab. Martin served as lead editor
of a special issue of "Functional Ecology." MELISSA RUSSELL/USF

Professor edits journal's special issue
[02.04.2011]

TAMPA, Fla. -- Two years ago, Lynn B. (Marty) Martin received a call inviting him to be the lead editor of a special issue on “Ecological Immunology” in the renown British Ecological Society’s journal “Functional Ecology.”

In February 2011, the journal was published. Assisting him in editing was Dana Hawley from the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech and Dan Ardia from the Department of Biology at Franklin & Marshall College.

Martin is an assistant professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at USF. He said his research as an ecological physiologist examines how animals cope in their environment when dealing with infections.

Previously, studies were done in controlled environments to see how animals handled infections, not taking in the factors of their environment. But in Martin’s lab, all factors are involved in the research.

Fairly new to the field of ecology, Martin said “Functional Ecology” has become one of the fastest growing journals.

“It has surpassed older, well-established journals such as “Ecology,” he said.

Martin attributes the journal’s growth because there were no previous texts about ecoimmunology. Now this journal is answering questions about the variation in immunology that have not been answered before.

Justin Trotter, a USF Health Ph.D. student, authored an article in the same issue entitled, “Linking ecological immunology and evolutionary medicine: the case for apolipoprotein E.” Trotter studies evolutionary medicine in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology.