Matt Lodato, Ph.D.

Office Location
Goddard Basement | Room 007C

Education
Ph.D. | Biological Sciences | University of Alabama | 2025
M.S. | Environmental Biology | University of Southern Mississippi | 2018
B.S. | Marine Biology | University of Southern Mississippi | 2014

Dissertation Summary
My dissertation focused on how hydrology, floodplain features, and freshwater mussel communities influenced patterns of river biogeochemical cycles and resource use. Specifically, my first chapter examined the influence of hydrology and a floodplain-wetland complex on the spatial and temporal patterns of organic matter and nutrients in a low-relief river system that is undammed and unconstrained. My second chapter assessed the influence of mussel phylogeny and gill morphology in shaping food resource ingestion and assimilation patterns, while my third chapter investigated how the functional traits of mussel species modulate the effects that a species has on sediment nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes under natural field conditions.

Areas of Expertise
Aquatic Ecology
Ecosystem Ecology
Biochemistry
Freshwater Mussel Ecology

Publications
Halvorson, HM, JR Barry, MB Lodato, RH Findlay, SN Francoeur, & KA Kuehn. (2019) Periphytic algae decouple fungal activity from leaf litter decomposition via negative priming. Functional Ecology, 33(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13235

Lodato, MB, JS Boyette, RA Smilo, CR Jackson, HM Halvorson, & KA Kuehn (2021) Functional importance and diversity of fungi during standing grass litter decomposition. Oecologia, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04838-y

Hopper, GW, J Buchanan, I Sánchez González, JR Bucholz, MB Lodato, & CL Atkinson. (2022) Little clams with big potential: nutrient release by invasive Corbicula fluminea can exceed cooccurring freshwater mussel (Unionidae) assemblage Biological Invasions 24(8): 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-022-02792-9

Hopper, GW, JR Bucholz, TP DuBose, KJ Fogelman, SM Keogh, ME Kubala, MB Lodato, DH Nichols, I Sánchez González, JM Stoeckel, JD Lozier, & CL Atkinson. (2023) SHEL-D: a trait database for freshwater mussels for the United States of America. Scientific Data (10). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02635-9

Lodato, MB., BC van Ee, & CL Atkinson. (2024) Linking morphology and phylogeny to resource within aquatic assemblages. Ecology and Evolution, 14e70641, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70641

Lopez, JW, MB Lodato, & CL Atkinson. (2025) Zoogeochemical impacts of freshwater mussels on stream metabolism are mediated by their ecophysiological and behavioral traits. Freshwater Science, 44(1). https://doi.org/10.1086/733812 

Lopez, JW, MB Lodato, TC Michael, LM Morris, & CL Atkinson. A novel, self-contained chamber design for ecosystem experiments in streams (2025). Limnology and Oceanography: Methods. https://doi.org/10.1002/lom3.10692

Advisor
Dr. Scott Collins