Phoebe Lehmann Zarnetske | |
|---|---|
| Education | Oregon State University (Ph.D.) Utah State University (MSc.) Colby College (B.A.) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Michigan State University |
| Thesis | The influence of biophysical feedbacks and species interactions on grass invasions and coastal dune morphology in the Pacific Northwest, USA (2011) |
| Website | https://www.communityecologylab.com/ |
Phoebe L. Zarnetske is a community ecologist and associate professor at Michigan State University. [1] She is a core faculty member in the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior (EEB) Program there. [2] Her work focuses on the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that shape natural communities across multiple spatial scales. [3]
Zarnetske received her B.A. in biology with a concentration in environmental science from Colby College in 2001. She received her M.S. in ecology at Utah State University in 2006. [1] In 2011, she earned a Ph.D. from Oregon State University. [4] She was a Graduate Fellow National State Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Ecosystem Informatics. [5] [1] She also was a Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale Climate and Energy Institute at Yale University from 2011-2013. [1] [6] In 2013, Zarnetske joined Michigan State University, and was promoted to associate professor in the Department of Integrative Biology in 2020. [1]
Zarnetske research interests center on examining how ecological communities respond to climate change and invasive species. Her Ph.D. research examined feedbacks between grass invasions and the shape of dunes. [7] She has contributed to our understanding of how climate change impacts species and communities [8] and described the biotic multipliers of climate change by considering which species are most likely to be under threat. [9] Zarnetske has contributed to the field of spatial and community ecology by examining the effect of biotic interactions and environmental conditions on the spread of non-native species and their impact on resident communities. [10] [11] Zarnetske and Jessica Gurevitch lead the Climate Intervention Biology Working Group which gathers scientists working at the intersection of climate research and ecology, and in 2021 Zarnetske led a publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presenting knowledge gaps on the ecological impacts of Stratospheric aerosol injection on the natural world. [12] [13]