Fernanda Valdovinos uses network analysis and mathematical modeling to characterize the structure, dynamics, and function of biological communities, including their responses to species extinctions, invasions, climate change, and fishing. By integrating theoretical and empirical approaches, her research has advanced our understanding of complex ecological networks and generated novel models to predict the responses of biological communities to environmental change.

Mikaela Provost studies fish, fisheries, and the influence of environmental change on population dynamics of harvested marine species. Her research uses theoretical and empirical approaches to address applied problems in fisheries management and marine conservation, including how human fishing communities respond to changes in fish populations.

Plant ecologist Val Eviner investigates the mechanisms that underlie ecosystem resilience to multiple environmental changes. These include drought, fire, nutrient deposition, and invasive species. She also studies how to manage and restore these mechanisms, focusing on seedbanks, plant-soil interactions, and ecosystem services.

Geoff Attardo and his students examine the reproductive biology of insect vectors of human disease. He currently investigates the effects of wildfire-derived changes on mosquito habitats to better understand impacts on the biology and physiology of these important disease vectors.

Elizabeth Crone studies population ecology, especially of plants and insects, and plant-animal interactions. She focuses on how environmental changes translate to changes in population dynamics: For example, is there a simple, linear matching of changes in resources to abundance of consumers, or do interactions among individuals and species moderate these responses? Current research focuses largely on insect population viability in changing environments, with some continuing work on plant population dynamics and mast-seeding. 

Jeff Ross-Ibarra and members of his lab study the evolutionary genetics of maize and its ancestral progenitor, teosinte. Maize spread rapidly after domestication, adapting to a wide range of environments. Today maize is grown across a broader geographic breadth than any of the world’s other staple crops, from sea level to altitudes of >4,000m and from deserts to near-flooded conditions. The wild relatives of maize have also adapted to environments varying widely in elevation, temperature, and moisture availability. Thus, maize and its wild relatives provide an ideal model system to understand the genetic basis of adaptation.

Ben Sacks and his students use genetic and genomic tools, along with field methodologies, to investigate basic and applied problems in ecology, evolution, and conservation of mammals. General topics include the ecology, evolution, and systematics of carnivores, ungulates, and rodent; endangered species conservation; and application of genomic tools to conservation and wildlife management.

Activities in the Whitehead lab revolve around research in environmental, ecological, and evolutionary genomics. Whitehead and his students seek to understand how genomes integrate cues from, respond to, and are shaped by the external environment. Research includes genomic responses to natural and human-generated stress that occur over physiological timescales (acclimation responses) and over evolutionary timescales (adaptive responses), using genome expression profiling, population genetics/genomics and phylogenetics, and physiology. Whitehead has both a basic science angle to research, and also an applied angle that leverages genomic information to diagnose and solve environmental problems.

Kate Laskowski investigates the causes and consequences of behavioral diversity and plasticity. In her research, she explores how evolution has shaped the developmental processes that generate behavioral variation. She seeks to understand how individuals integrate cues from their genes, parents, and experiences to build their phenotypes from both ultimate and proximate perspectives.

Jay Stachowicz is a marine ecologist who examines the causes of patterns biodiversity at the species and genetic level, and the consequences of this variation for the functioning of ecosystems. Current work focuses on California eelgrass ecosystems, examining the interrelationships between plant genetic diversity, animal community ecology, and the microbiome associated with these habitat forming species.