Erika S. Zavaleta is an American professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Zavaleta is recognized for her research focusing on topics including plant community ecology, conservation practices for terrestrial ecosystems, and impacts of community dynamics on ecosystem functions.
Erika Zavaleta
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| Alma mater | PhD Stanford University, Biological Sciences
MS Stanford University, Anthropology BA Stanford University, Anthropology |
| Awards | Fellow, Ecological Society of America
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor Sustainability Science Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ecology
Conservation Biology |
| Institutions | University of California, Santa Cruz |
| Thesis | Influences of climate and atmospheric changes on plant diversity and ecosystem function in a California grassland (2001) |
| Doctoral advisor | Christopher Field |
| Website | https://people.ucsc.edu/~zavaleta/ |
Zavaleta was born in New York. Both her parents immigrated to the United States to study; her father from Bolivia and her mother from India. Zavaleta spent time playing outside from a young age, influencing her early interest in science.[1] She earned a Bachelors and Masters in AnthropologyatStanford University. For her thesis, Zavaleta studied the evolution of waterfowl conservation in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta with advisers William Durham and Donald Kennedy.[2] Zavaleta earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University in biological services. Her doctoral mentors were Hal Mooney and Chris Field, with her dissertation focused on examining plant diversity and ecosystem functioning in a California grassland as influenced by climate and atmospheric changes.
Zavaleta is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and MacArthur Foundation Chair of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC).[3] She also serves as the Faculty Director for the UCSC Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, which is a conservation leadership program supporting a diverse group of undergraduate college students.[4][5] In 2018, Zavaleta founded and serves as the faculty director of the Center to Advance Mentored, Inquiry-Based Opportunities (CAMINO) at UCSC to promote inclusive and accessible research experiences, and provide resources and mentoring for students interested in the ecology and conservation fields.[6] Zavaleta is also Vice-President of the California Fish and Game Commission, appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in April 2021. She co-chairs the Commission's Wildlife Committee.
From 2001-2003, Zavaleta was a David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow of The Nature Conservancy[7]
Zavaleta is known for her research in environmental change at both global and regional scales, ecology and biodiversity, ecosystems functions, and conservation practice.[8] Projects include seeking to understand how global climate changes affect terrestrial ecosystems, analyzing ecosystem stewardship and effective conservation practice in response to global climate changes, and studying the impacts of biodiversity loss.[9] Zavaleta's paper Consequences of Changing Biodiversity examines the impact of human caused extinctions in decreasing the resiliency of ecosystems and thus the services humans can gain from these ecosystems.[10]InBiodiversity Management in the Face of Climate Change: A Review of 22 Years of Recommendations, Zavaleta reviews literature addressing adaptation to climate change, and identifies trends to provide recommendations for conservation management.[11] Zavaleta analyses secondary impacts in ecosystems of the eradication of invasive species to provide recommendations to prevent adverse unintended impacts in her paper Viewing Invasive Species Removal in a Whole-Ecosystem Context.[12]
Zavaleta has published an extensive amount of work, including over 68 peer-reviewed journal articles, 1 book, 14 chapters in books, and 4 non-academic specific reports as of 2017.
Zavaleta has four children with her spouse Bernie. Her family splits time between Telluride, Colorado and California.[26]