Bradley J. Cardinale, who joins SNRE's faculty in January, has received a $2-million National Science Foundation grant as part of the agency's efforts to expand knowledge and understanding of Earth's biodiversity. Assistant Professor Cardinale is the principal investigator on a project titled, "Can evolutionary history predict how changes in biodiversity impact the productivity of ecosystems?" He and his colleagues will examine how evolutionary processes among algae generate and maintain the diversity of genes, and whether genetic diversity can explain the productivity of freshwater lakes.