Lauren C. Ponisio
The continued provision of services by nature supports our society --- services that are crucial, yet taken for granted. Growing up in California's Central Valley, I experienced first-hand an ecosystem which whose services were lost after being converted to intensively managed agriculture --- damaging both agricultural production and human health. To protect the beautiful evolutionary history of our planet and promote a healthy society, we must achieve stable coexistence of humans and other species through acknowledging our connection to nature. This is why I have dedicated my life to understanding biodiversity --- researching how to sustain and restore biodiversity, and elucidating its role in maintaining human prosperity.
In a variety of landscapes, I have examined the assembly of plant-pollinator communities through time and space to better understand the capacity of environmental, disturbance and interaction diversity to sustain diversity. To inform how we can restore the processes that maintain diversity where they are degraded, I have investigated community assembly in response to restoration. As communities assembled, network structure underwent multiple large-scale re-organizations as species continually changed their interaction partners. To uncover the mechanism underlying interaction switching, I am currently focusing on understanding the ecological and evolutionary forces that shape interactions and their ramifications for functional outcome of the interaction (i.e., pollination, nutrition acquisition) at the individual, population and species-level. I am also working to understand how and why the patterns of species and interaction diversity vary between human-modified and more natural landscapes. |
Contact:
lponisio_at_ucr.edu Office/address: Address: 282 Entomology Building, Riverside, CA 92521 Github Google scholar Orcid ID: 0000-0002-3838-7357 Impactstory CV Personal website |
Marília P. Gaiarsa
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Post-doctoral scholar
Marilia is a community ecologist from Brazil and interested in understanding the intrinsic organization of biological communities and the role of species interactions play in both the maintenance and persistence of biodiversity. During her PhD, at Universidade de Sao Paulo, she explored the ecological consequences of cascading effects in mutualistic networks, using computer simulations and empirical data to assess the relationship between the structure of ecological networks and their robustness to cascading effects. As a member of the Ponisio lab, she will focus specifically on plant-pollinator interactions at the individual scale, and how these patterns translate to the network scale and affect ecosystem function and community resilience. |
Magda Argueta
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PhD Student, UC Mexus
Magda is a Mexican biologist whose research is focused on understanding how interspecific interactions contribute to the develop and maintenance of complex systems. She did her bachelors and masters work at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, UNAM. Pollination is her favorite ecological process to asses this issue. Her goal is to contribute to the development of her country through the dissemination of useful research tools for the conservation of ecological interactions in Mexico. She really loves field work, especially in areas with a strong seasonality. |
Contact:
magda_argueta_at_hotmail.com |
Kaysee Tom
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Lab Manager
Kaysee received her B.S. in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley in 2013 – where she studied the effects of native vegetation on pollinators in mass-flowering sunflower crops – followed by a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University in 2014. Her current research interests focus on the disruption of plant-pollinator interactions and pollination networks via global change drivers, and the ecological implications of such disruptions. She has been involved in the Ponisio Lab's work in the Madrean Sky Islands and Bee Better almond orchards in the Central Valley of California. Kaysee will be joining Berry Brosi's lab at Emory University in fall 2018. |
Contact:
kathleen.c.tom_at_gmail.com |
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Undergraduate researchers |
Arielle Chang
Nancy Guzman
Paul Markley
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Paul Markley is a 3rd year undergraduate Plant Biology major with concentration in Plant Pathology, Nematology, and Pest Management interested in understanding how plants and pollinators spread spread diseases to each other and other individuals. He became interested in insects after taking a forensic entomology on a whim, and now assists the Ponisio lab in pinning and sorting their insect collection. Paul is currently employed with the George E. Brown USDA ARSSL assisting scientists in maintaining their projects and performing molecular analysis.
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Contact:
pmark002_at_ucr.edu |
Amma Wiafe
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Amma Wiafe is a fourth year neuroscience major here at UCR. At the Ponisio lab, Amma is involved with specimen management for our Sky Islands project, and has become an expert insect pinner! She got first interested in Entomology after taking a class on insect behavior with Dr. Woodard. After graduation she has some interest in pursuing a career in nursing and integrating what she has learned about research in the lab. In her free-time, she also loves dancing, traveling, and making videos.
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Contact:
awiaf002_at_ucr.edu |
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Collaborators |
Rob Straser
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Rob is a 1st year Ph.D. student in the Dept. of Entomology at UCR working with Asst. Coop. Extension Specialist, Dr. Houston Wilson. Rob’s current research interests focus on understanding where and under what conditions alternative management strategies in agriculture, such as on-farm habitat diversification initiatives, have the potential to promote the long-term viability of natural enemy populations to benefit both crop yield and financial return on investment.
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Contact:
rstra005_at_ucr.edu |
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Lab alumni |
Julie Fowler
Field Technician, summer 2017
Julie is a senior at Emory University receiving a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Science in 2018. During her time at Emory she performed research on DNA metabarcoding for use in recreating pollinator networks and hope to continue with pollination biology through the lenses of both human and ecosystem health. She has a deep passion for being in the field and have performed field work in Atlanta, The Bahamas, and South Africa. Julie was involved in the Ponisio Lab's work in the Madrean Sky Islands in 2017.
Contact: julie.fowler_at_emory.edu
Field Technician, summer 2017
Julie is a senior at Emory University receiving a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Science in 2018. During her time at Emory she performed research on DNA metabarcoding for use in recreating pollinator networks and hope to continue with pollination biology through the lenses of both human and ecosystem health. She has a deep passion for being in the field and have performed field work in Atlanta, The Bahamas, and South Africa. Julie was involved in the Ponisio Lab's work in the Madrean Sky Islands in 2017.
Contact: julie.fowler_at_emory.edu
