Katharine Suding

Distinguished Professor • PI, Niwot Ridge LTER •
• Plant community ecology • Restoration and conservation • Invasion biology

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

katharine.suding@colorado.edu

303 735-3193

Visit the Suding Lab

Bio

Plant community ecology; restoration, invasion biology, environmental change, and conservation.

I am a plant community ecologist working at the interface of ecosystem, landscape and population biology. My goal is to apply cutting-edge “usable” science to the challenges of restoration, species invasion, and environmental change. My research group and I work with a range of conservation groups, government agencies and land managers to provide evidence-based solutions that take into account biodiversity, human well-being, and management opportunities. We employ a combination of long-term monitoring, modeling and experimental approaches in settings that range from alpine tundra to oak woodlands to grasslands. Common themes include plant-soil feedbacks, functional traits, species effects on ecosystem processes, and non-linear and threshold dynamics.

Visit the Suding Lab web site.

Education

PhD: University of Michigan, 1999
BS: Williams College, 1994

Awards

Highly Cited Researcher (2016-2019), Web of Science Group, 2019
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2018
MacArthur Award, Ecological Society of America, 2018
BFA Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarly and Creative Work, Boulder Faculty Assembly, 2018
Fellow, Ecological Society of America, 2016

Research

Visit the Suding Lab web site. We are plant community ecologists working at the interface of ecosystem, landscape and population biology. Our goal is to apply cutting-edge science to the challenges of restoration, invasion, and environmental change.

Publications

Recent publications

Functional- and abundance-based mechanisms explain diversity loss due to N fertilization

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Suding KN; Collins SL; Gough L; Clark C; Cleland EE; Gross KL; Milchunas DG; Pennings S

Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA
Publication Date: 2005-03-22
Type: Journal Article

Biological control insect use of fertilized and unfertilized diffuse knapweed in a Colorado grassland

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Lejeune KD; Suding KN; Sturgis S; Scott A; Seastedt TR

Published in: Environmental Entomology
Publication Date: 2005-02-01
Type: Journal Article

Understanding invasions: the rise and fall of diffuse knapweed (Centaurea diffusa) in North America

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Seastedt TR; Suding KN; LeJeune KD

Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Type: Chapter

Competitive impacts and responses of an invasive weed: dependencies on nitrogen and phosphorus availability

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Suding KN; LeJeune KD; Seastedt TR

Published in: Oecologia
Publication Date: 2004-11-01
Type: Journal Article

Alternative states and positive feedbacks in restoration ecology

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Suding KN; Gross KL; Houseman GR

Published in: Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Type: Journal Article

Species effects on resource supply rates: do they influence competitive interactions?

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash; Bowman, Bill

All Authors: Suding KN; Larson JR; Thorsos E; Steltzer H; Bowman WD

Published in: Plant Ecology
Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Type: Journal Article

Notes & Abstracts

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors:

Published in: Ecological Restoration North America
Publication Date: 2003-06-01
Type: Journal Article

Relationships among species traits: Separating levels of response and identifying linkages to abundance

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Suding KN; Goldberg DE; Hartman KM

Published in: Ecology
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
Type: Journal Article

The effect of spring burning on competitive ranking of prairie species

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Suding KN

Published in: Journal of Vegetation Science
Publication Date: 2001-12-01
Type: Journal Article

Do disturbances alter competitive hierarchies? Mechanisms of change following gap creation

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Suding KN; Goldberg D

Published in: Ecology
Publication Date: 2001-08-01
Type: Journal Article

Do Disturbances Alter Competitive Hierarchies? Mechanisms of Change Following Gap Creation

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Suding KN; Goldberg D

Published in: Ecology
Publication Date: 2001-08-01
Type: Journal Article

The effects of gap creation on competitive interactions: separating changes in overall intensity from relative rankings

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Suding KN

Published in: OIKOS
Publication Date: 2001-08-01
Type: Journal Article

Variation in the effects of vegetation and litter on recruitment across productivity gradients

CU Boulder Authors: Suding, Katharine Nash

All Authors: Suding KN; Goldberg DE

Published in: Journal of Ecology
Publication Date: 1999-06-01
Type: Journal Article

Teaching

Courses

EBIO 6100: Graduate Seminar in Critical Transitions & Resilience
- It is increasingly clear that ecological systems, like many other complex systems, have critical thresholds at which they shift abruptly from one state to another--non-linear transitions that are abrupt and hard to reverse. We will explore the application of complexity theory to such issues as desertification in rangelands, dieback in coral reefs, and turbidly in lakes.

Current postdocs and students

Sam Ahler

PhD Student •
• Plant community ecology • Functional traits • Belowground dynamics • Restoration

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Visit the Suding Lab Advisor: Katharine Suding

sam.ahler@colorado.edu

Jonathan Henn

Postdoctoral Scholar •
• Alpine plant ecology

Visit Suding Lab Advisor: Katharine Suding I am a Postdoctoral Researcher working with Marko Spasojevic and Katie Suding to characterize long-term change in alpine plant communities. Overall, my research focuses on these issues to improve the restoration and management of ecosystems under rapidly changing conditions. I also actively work on developing effective mentoring, teaching, and outreach skills to help cultivate the next generation of scientists and engaged citizens. See more...

jonathan.henn@colorado.edu

Katya Jay

Postdoctoral Scholar •
• Plant ecology • Climate change

Visit the Suding Lab Advisor: Katharine Suding Bio Education PhD: Oregon State University, 2021 BS: Macalester College, 2016

katya.jay@colorado.edu

Thomas Merchant

PhD Student •
• Plant community ecology

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Advisor: Katharine Suding Specialties: plant community, ecosystem ecology, and global change; plant-microbial interactions; data science.

thomas.merchant@colorado.edu

Melinda Stueber

Bachelor's Accelerated Master's Student •
• Restoration ecology • Conservation biology • Landscape ecology

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Advisor: Katharine Suding

melinda.stueber@colorado.edu

Caitlin White

PhD Student •
• Plant community ecology • Restoration ecology

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Advisor: Katharine Suding Research Publications Seastedt, T., White, C., Tucker, C., Beaury, E. M., Concilio, A., Gasarch, E., Haggans, V. J., Smith, J. G., 2020: Decadal dynamics of dry alpine meadows under nitrogen and phosphorus additions . Plant Ecology, 221(8): 647-658. DOI: 10.1007/s11258-020-01039-8 Balch, J. K., Iglesias, V., Braswell, A. E., Rossi, M. W., Joseph, M. B., Mahood, A. L., Shrum, T. R., White, C., Scholl, V. M., McGuire, B.,...

caitlin.t.white@colorado.edu

Alumni

See Suding Lab alumni.

Outreach

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News

Alpine wildflowers bloom on the tundra of Niwot Ridge. Photo by William Bowman.

$7.65 million grant to extend study of how climate change shapes life at 10,000 feet (CU Boulder Today)

Feb. 3, 2023

For more than 40 years, scientists from the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research program have worked to better understand high-alpine ecosystems in a warming world. Thanks to a new $7.65 million, six-year grant from the National Science Foundation, that work will continue, making Niwot Ridge LTER the longest-running NSF-funded program at CU Boulder.

A map shows where surface water samples were collected from the Coal Creek waterway shortly after the Marshall Fire.

Ongoing CU research explores impacts, solutions after Marshall Fire (CU Boulder Today)

Dec. 21, 2022

On Dec. 30, 2021, a fast-moving wildfire in suburban Boulder County became the costliest wildfire in Colorado history. It burned 6,000 acres, destroyed more than 1,000 homes and damaged thousands of others. The Marshall Fire also spurred researchers—many personally affected by the fire—to apply their expertise to the aftermath. A year later, dozens of ongoing research projects continue to explore the science behind the fire; its widespread impacts; and how we can mitigate future catastrophes in a changing climate.

Miles Moore and Jimmy Howe toss black sand onto a test plot on Niwot Ridge. Photo by Kelsey Simpkins, CU Boulder.

To study impacts of longer, hotter summers, ecologists haul 5,000 pounds of sand up a mountain (CU Boulder Today)

Sept. 12, 2022

For the past five years, a team of research assistants and volunteers have hiked up Niwot Ridge in late May to set the stage for a unique experiment in which they spread 5,000 pounds of black sand across portions of the remaining snowpack. Their goal is to simulate the near-future effects of a warming planet on alpine ecosystems.

3 faculty members headed out on Fulbright Program (CU Boulder Today)

Aug. 10, 2022

Katharine Suding is among three CU Boulder faculty members who received Fulbright fellowships to study internationally. Suding will travel to the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, to work on a project called Recovery, Resilience and the Ecology of Change.

Oft-overlooked grasslands build biodiversity, resilience over centuries (CU Boulder Today)

Aug. 4, 2022

Grasslands’ biodiversity and resilience to disturbances such as fire, heat and drought is the result of a slow process over hundreds of years, like that of old growth forests, finds new CU research led by INSTAAR Katharine Suding that was published today in Science. An implication of the research is that it's important to conserve grasslands that are still intact.

More Suding news >

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Katharine Suding

Bio

Education

Awards

Research

Publications

Relationships among species traits: Separating levels of response and identifying linkages to abundance

Pages

Teaching

Courses

Current postdocs and students

Alumni

Outreach

News