Phoebe Lehmann Zarnetske

I am a professor of spatial and community ecology in the Department of Integrative Biology at Michigan State University. I am also Director of the Institute for Biodiversity, Ecology, Evolution, and Macrosystems (IBEEM): https://ibeem.msu.edu/, and am adjunct in the Department of Plant Biology. I am affiliated with the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior (EEB) Program, Environmental Science and Policy Program (ESPP), and am a Co-PI of the Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site.

My research program uses a combination of observational biodiversity data (including citizen science observations like eBird and iNaturalist, and systematic surveys like the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS)), satellite remote sensing, experiments, and modeling to connect observed patterns of biodiversity and community composition with underlying mechanisms. Specifically, I am interested in how the composition and geographic distribution of species and ecological communities are affected by biotic interactions, species invasions, biophysical feedbacks, geodiversity, climate change, and land use change. A central goal of my research program is to understand which species and ecological communities are most sensitive and/or resilient to climate change. In turn, some of these species may act as "biotic multipliers" of climate change through their outsized impacts on other species, ecological communities, and ecosystem functions. My Spatial and Community Ecology Lab (SpaCE Lab) at MSU: https://www.communityecologylab.com/.

August 2023