Dr. Donna Marie Bilkovic is an ecologist and research associate professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William & Mary. She has worked on multiple aspects of the ecology of coastal habitats and assemblages. Her current research efforts are focused on 1) the assessment of environmental consequences of various anthropogenic impacts – emphasizing coastal development, habitat loss and fragmentation, and marine debris, 2) improving our understanding of social-ecological feedbacks that erode or strengthen coastal habitat resilience, 3) the role of living shorelines as estuarine habitat conservation strategies, and 4) the integration of habitat function and connectivity into decision-support tools for shoreline and wetland management.