Patrick J. Bohlen is Director of the MacArthur Agro-ecology Research Center, a Division of Archbold Expeditions in Florida. Archbold is an independent non-profit organization established in 1941 with a mission of long-term ecological research, education and conservation. Bohlen is also a Courtesy Professor in the Department of Soil and Water Sciences at the University of Florida. His expertise is in the area of ecosystem ecology and soil ecology and his broad-ranging research examines ecological interaction in soil and the interrelations between agriculture and the environment. Since 1991, he has been involved in a series of multi-collaborator projects examining the role of earthworms in the processing and cycling of nutrients in agroecosystems and forests. Since 1998, he has collaborated on several large interdisciplinary projects examining the influence of different ranch management practices on nutrient runoff from subtropical cattle pastures, and the ecological dynamics of wetlands in grazing lands.  He is currently collaborating on the Florida Ranchlands Environmental Services Project. This project is a collaboration among participating ranchers, economists, NGOs (World Wildlife Fund, Resources for the Future), ecologists, hydrologists, and state and federal agencies to develop a Pay-for-Environmental-Services (PES) program that would compensate ranchers for providing water-related environmental services in the Northern Everglades region. The ranchlands of south Florida represent a threatened agroecosystem that currently provide significant ecological services, but are under pressure to convert to more intensive land use and development. Bohlen’s collaborative efforts have helped to define the ecological and economic boundaries that can contribute to the sustainability of these valuable systems. He received a B. S. in Biology from the University of Michigan in 1983, a M.S. in Zoology from Miami University in 1989, and PhD in Entomology from Ohio State University in 1994. Prior to becoming director at MAERC he was a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York.