Elena Litchman named a fellow by the Ecological Society of America

Elena Litchman, a W.K. Kellogg Biological Station faculty member and MSU Research Foundation Professor of aquatic ecology in Michigan State University’s Department of Integrative Biology, is one of eight recent fellows named by the Ecological Society of America, or ESA.

Elena Litchman

Litchman is an ecologist interested in community assembly, resilience and eco-evolutionary responses of microbial communities to forces like anthropogenic global change. Her work at Kellogg Biological Station—KBS—and beyond examines the consequences of ecological change for biodiversity, biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem functioning around the world.

Having pioneered trait-based approaches to studying phytoplankton, she now extends those approaches to other microbial systems, from freshwater lakes to gut microbiota to algal synthetic communities.

She’s received many awards and honors, among them the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, where she also is a Fellow.

“Elena’s selection as an ESA Fellow is certainly well-deserved,” said Jeffrey Conner, KBS interim director. “Her research record is stunning, and this is yet another major award recognizing this. Her work has pioneered the incorporation of organismal traits in understanding their ecology, as well as the impacts of global change on phytoplankton communities worldwide.”

Ecological Society of America

The ESA is one of the world’s premier ecological research and advocacy organizations, and the largest association of ecologists, with 9000 members worldwide. Those members who make outstanding contributions to areas served by the ESA, including advancements in research, policymaking and non-profit impact, may be elected as fellows.

“I feel grateful for this recognition of my work and am excited to be a part of the group of ESA fellows,” said Litchman. “As ecologists, we have so many pressing challenges to tackle, such as understanding the resilience of ecosystems, from local lakes to the global ocean, and predicting how they will function under changing conditions. In tackling these challenges, I find combining the fundamental and applied perspectives in my research especially rewarding.”

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