About

Professor Meghan Avolio is an Associate Professor originally from Croton-on-Hudson, New York. She holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, an M.S. from Fordham University, and a B.A. from Barnard College. Her research interests focus on plant community ecology, global change, urban ecology, urban trees, grassland dynamics, adaptation, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, dominant species, plant traits, and mycorrhizal fungi. Through her work, she investigates the complex interactions within plant communities and how these are influenced by environmental changes, particularly in urban and grassland ecosystems. Professor Avolio's expertise bridges multiple ecological disciplines, emphasizing the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem processes in the context of global change and urbanization.

Research topics

• Ecology
• Geography
• Biology
• Environmental science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Environmental resource management
• Environmental planning
• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Data science
• Agroforestry
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Economics
• Statistics
• Mathematics
• Business
• Econometrics
• Epistemology
• Management science

Selected publications

• Understanding the effects of patch‐burn grazing management on aboveground grassland invertebrate biodiversity

  Oikos · 2026-04-03

  articleOpen access

  Landscape heterogeneity is widely recognized as a driver of biodiversity, yet its consequences for above‐ground, foliage‐dwelling insect communities under active grassland management remain underexplored. Patch‐burn grazing (PBG), which rotates fire across patches within a grazed landscape, is designed to promote spatial and temporal heterogeneity by creating a shifting mosaic of successional stages. In contrast, annual burning and grazing (ABG) imposes uniform disturbance. We tested how these contrasting strategies shape aboveground invertebrate communities across three years (2021–2023) in tallgrass prairie at the Konza Prairie Biological Station in Manhattan, Kansas. Using vacuum sampling, we quantified family‐level richness, evenness, abundance and functional composition of above‐ground, foliage‐associated insects; this method targets smaller, vegetation‐dwelling taxa. Contrary to expectations, PBG did not consistently enhance local (alpha) or beta‐diversity. Insect richness was higher in ABG in one year, while evenness was greater in PBG in another. Total abundances and functional group distributions were broadly similar, with only limited treatment differences. However, PBG significantly altered invertebrate community composition in two of three years, suggesting that heterogeneity influenced community structuring, even when richness was unchanged. Family composition differed between ABG and PBG in two of three years, driven primarily by higher and more variable Cicadellidae in PBG, with additional contributions from Acrididae, Formicidae, Curculionidae and Caliscelidae. Herbivory rates did not differ between treatments. Our findings reveal that using PBG to manage spatial heterogeneity leads to complex responses in insect communities, but may lead to distinct community compositions across the landscape. This decoupling of richness from composition highlights the importance of considering multiple biodiversity metrics when evaluating ecological outcomes. By fostering compositional variability without inflating herbivore pressure, PBG has potential as a heterogeneity‐based strategy for managing grasslands.

  PublisherDOI

• Genetic Diversity and Population Structure in Cities Is Not Consistent Among Cosmopolitan Plant Species

  Molecular Ecology · 2026-02-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Urbanisation has led to increasing homogenization of plant communities across cities. However, it is unclear whether these patterns extend to cosmopolitan plant species at the genetic level. We examined genome-wide genetic patterns in six widespread plant species (three Poaceae and three Asteraceae) across five cities in the USA (Boston, Baltimore, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, and Los Angeles) using reduced-representation sequencing. We assessed genetic structure, differentiation, and patterns of isolation by distance (IBD) and environment (IBE) to determine if species were genetically homogeneous or differentiated by city, percentage of impervious surface, or both. Most species exhibited limited population structure overall, with Poa annua (annual bluegrass), Taraxacum officinale (dandelion), and Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda grass) showing no significant genetic differentiation among cities, a pattern consistent with high gene flow mediated by human activity. Notable exceptions included city-level differences in Erigeron canadensis (horseweed) and Lactuca serriola (prickly lettuce), especially in Phoenix. We also observed low genetic diversity in Digitaria sanguinalis (crabgrass) from Phoenix, suggesting recent founder effects or selection via environmental filtering. Erigeron canadensis, the only native species studied, displayed stronger differentiation by city, along with significant isolation by temperature and distance. Among all species, we found no evidence for population structure by impervious surface. Our findings indicate that widespread population genetic structure patterns of cosmopolitan plants are likely to depend more on species attributes (e.g., self-compatibility) and human-mediated dispersal than on urbanisation per se.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• CME01 The Consumer Size Manipulation Experiment (ConSME) at Konza Prairie

  Environmental Data Initiative · 2026-01-01

  datasetOpen access

  Herbivores of varying size classes exist with the grassland biome (large mammals, small mammals, insects), however their independent and interactive effects on grassland plant species composition and function are understudied. Here we aim to tease apart the effects of three size classes of herbivores within the Konza Prairie system, and whether these effects vary across fire regimes.

  PublisherDOI

• CoRRE Trait Data: A collection of 17 categorical and continuous traits for nearly 6000 grassland species worldwide

  Open MIND · 2026-01-01

  datasetOpen access

  In our changing world, it is critical to understand and predict plant community responses to global change drivers. Plant functional traits promise to be a key predictive tool for many ecosystems, including grasslands, however their use requires both complete plant community and functional trait data. Yet, representation of these data in global databases is incredibly sparse, particularly beyond a handful of most used traits and common species. Here we present the CoRRE Trait Database, spanning 17 traits (9 categorical, 8 continuous) anticipated to predict species’ responses to global change for 5,917 vascular plant species across 196 plant families present in 551 grassland experiments from around the world. The database contains complete categorical trait records for all 4,079 plant species, obtained from a comprehensive literature search. Additionally, the database contains nearly complete coverage (99.97%) of species mean values for continuous traits for a subset of 3,891 plant species across 168 plant families, predicted from observed trait data drawn from TRY and a variety of other plant trait databases using Bayesian Probabilistic Matrix Factorization (BHPMF) and multivariate imputation using chained equations (MICE). These data will shed light on mechanisms underlying population, community, and ecosystem responses to global change in grasslands worldwide.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Dual inoculation with rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi has synergistic effects on biomass of the prairie legume Lespedeza capitata under elevated CO2

  Plant and Soil · 2026-05-25

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Cutting, herbicide, and fire: a case study for managing woody plants in tallgrass prairies

  Restoration Ecology · 2026-04-22

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Introduction The removal of clonal and resprouting woody plants expanding into mesic grasslands like tallgrass prairies can be expensive based on the types of treatments applied and subsequent retreatments. Objective We aimed to determine how combined herbicide application, mechanical treatments, and annual prescribed fire influenced grassland recovery from resprouting woody plants based on topographic locations (lowland, slope, upland) at the Konza Prairie Biological Station near Manhattan, Kansas, USA. Methods We assessed tree cover using the Rangeland Analysis Platform and monitored shrub stem densities and plant species composition across different topographic positions (lowland, slope, upland) for 4 years post‐woody plant removal. Specifically, we assessed which herbaceous species recolonized the treated woody plant areas or shrub islands and the stability of the recovering herbaceous community. Results Four years after herbicide, mechanical treatments and annual prescribed fire, tree cover remained low in the watershed. Shrub stem densities increased on the slopes and lowlands, but decreased in the uplands. In the lowlands, annual and perennial forb species rapidly colonized former shrub islands, while on the slopes and uplands shrub species maintained cover dominance even though upland stem densities were reduced. Conclusions This study shows that 4 years after herbicide and cutting/mowing treatments combined with annual fire, woody plants re‐established in the lowlands more readily than the other topographic positions, and the infilling of perennial grasses into former shrub island locations was not achieved to a desirable cover to be considered dominant. Tracking plant community trajectory could become an important monitoring strategy to verify if a management objective was met for restoring woody encroached grasslands.

  PublisherDOI

• Identification and Validation of Microsatellite Markers for <i>Acer rubrum</i>

  Arboriculture & Urban Forestry · 2026-01-20

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Red maple (Acer rubrum) is one of the most commonly cultivated tree species and is often used in urban settings, as it is resilient, fast-growing, and tolerant of a wide variety of conditions. This study sought to understand the genetic variation between A. rubrum cultivars using microsatellites. Since A. rubrum is an autopolyploid that is often either hexaploid or octoploid, but can also be tetraploid, this species presents unique challenges for understanding population genetics, as many statistical tests assume diploidy. For these reasons, we cross referenced and verified genetic relationships with information regarding the development of the cultivars. We tested a total of 34 microsatellite loci that had been previously developed for closely related Acer spp. until we were able to validate 12 microsatellite loci that were consistently present in our A. rubrum samples, which included both wild-type and cultivated trees. Following validation, we then looked at the genetic relationships between 16 cultivars. These cultivars included some of the most popularly available, including Armstrong, Franks Jr.™ (Red-pointe), Franks Red™ (Red Sunset), and October Glory. We found that our genetic results from the microsatellite analysis were consistent with the histories of the developments of the various cultivars and therefore have confidence in using these microsatellite markers for analysis of A. rubrum .

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Correction: Exploring the impact of trait number and type on functional diversity metrics in real-world ecosystems

  PLoS ONE · 2025-01-02

  erratumOpen access

  [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272791.].

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Patch-Burn Grazing is Similar to Annual Burning in Effects on Belowground Invertebrates in Tallgrass Prairie

  Rangeland Ecology & Management · 2025-06-12

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Drought intensity and duration interact to magnify losses in primary productivity

  Science · 2025-10-16 · 34 citations

  articleOpen access

  As droughts become longer and more intense, impacts on terrestrial primary productivity are expected to increase progressively. Yet, some ecosystems appear to acclimate to multiyear drought, with constant or diminishing reductions in productivity as drought duration increases. We quantified the combined effects of drought duration and intensity on aboveground productivity in 74 grasslands and shrublands distributed globally. Ecosystem acclimation with multiyear drought was observed overall, except when droughts were extreme (i.e., ≤1-in-100-year likelihood of occurrence). Productivity losses after four consecutive years of extreme drought increased by ~2.5-fold compared with those of the first year. These results portend a foundational shift in ecosystem behavior if drought duration and intensity increase, from maintenance of reduced functioning over time to progressive and profound losses of productivity when droughts are extreme.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Kathryn J. Fiorella

  60 shared

• Steven M. Alexander

  Fisheries and Oceans Canada

  60 shared

• Simone Pulver

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  60 shared

• Peter M. Groffman

  The Graduate Center, CUNY

  49 shared

• Melinda D. Smith

  Colorado State University

  49 shared

• Peter B. Reich

  University of Minnesota

  31 shared

• Sally E. Koerner

  University of North Carolina at Greensboro

  27 shared

• Kevin R. Wilcox

  University of North Carolina at Greensboro

  26 shared

Labs

• Avolio LabPI

  Plant community ecology, global change, urban ecology, urban trees, grassland dynamics, adaptation, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, dominant species, plant traits, mycorrhizal fungi