He received his PhD in Biology from Duke University in 2005 in recognition of his investigations into the effects of logging and habitat loss on tropical forests. He has worked as a researcher for Wake Forest University and Harvard University's Center for Tropical Forest Science before joining the faculty at FIU in 2009. Feeley’s current research is focused on revealing and predicting the complex responses of tropical forests to global climate change with a particular emphasis on the potential shifts in species’ geographic ranges. Feeley’s work combines large-scale empirical analyses and modeling with field-based observations and experiments. Other research áreas include high-elevation tropical cloudforests of the Peruvian Andes.