Stephanie Rivest

My research aims to understand how ecological systems function and change in the face of rapid and widespread anthropogenic change. I focus on how human activities, like urbanization and species introductions, impact plant-insect communities by integrating theory and methods from landscape, functional, and community ecology. To do this work, I combine techniques like field surveys, experiments (field+lab), large-scale data synthesis, GIS, and ecological modeling. Some subjects studied in the lab include plant–insect interactions, butterfly nectar foraging, the roles of invasive species in native communities, urban ecological dynamics, and how functional traits can help explain community assembly. The ultimate goal of this work is to better understand how species and communities respond to environmental change, so we can better identify, predict, and mitigate threats to biodiversity.