Biography
Kirsten Prior is a community ecologist interested in how species interactions shape biodiversity and how global change alters those interactions, with a focus on insects and their interactions with plants and other insects. Her work spans both antagonistic interactions, such as those among plants, phytophagous insects, and parasitoid enemies, and mutualistic interactions, such as those between ants and other insects and plants. She asks how species invasions, climate change, and land-use change alter these interactions, and how the resulting changes in biodiversity affect ecosystem function.
Prior uses global change events as natural experiments to uncover the mechanisms that govern species interactions and patterns of diversity. She applies that understanding to the restoration of degraded communities and the interactions that sustain them. Her research combines field experiments and surveys with trait-based and molecular approaches.
Prior is also co-director of the Natural Environmental Change Center (NATCHANGE), which supports collaborative research on environmental change and hosts public engagement events such as the EcoBlitz biodiversity initiative.
Education
- PhD, University of Notre Dame
- BSc, Western University
Research Interests
- Community ecology
- Species interactions
- Global change and restoration ecology
- Insect ecology
Honors and Awards
- SUNY Research Leadership Academy Fellow
- Provost Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
- National Geographic Explorer
Research Profile
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