Dr. Elizabeth Lombardi

I am an evolutionary ecologist and botanist with research expertise across various biological scales and contexts. My research program mobilizes natural history collections data to generate hypotheses regarding the mechanisms that govern plant biodiversity and adaptation, which I then test through field and experimental approaches. I am especially interested in assessing the impact of climate change on plant-associated viruses in natural, agroecological and novel anthropogenic habitats. Outcomes of my research support climate smart agriculture, wild pathogen surveillance, and next generation biology pedagogy. More details about opportunities in my lab are forthcoming (January 2027). 

 

1. Lombardi, E. M., Peters, J. S., Jordán, J. P., & Power, A. G. (2026). From settler gardens to digital naturalists: human aesthetic preferences and land use changes facilitate the biogeographical expansion of a wild plant–virus interaction. Plants, People, Planet, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70243

 

2. Lombardi, E. M., Faust, H., & Marx, H. E. (2024). Synthesizing historical plant collections to identify priorities for future collection efforts and research applications. Ecosphere, 15(12). https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70102