We study ecological relationships among plants, insects, and microbes, exploring causes and consequences of patterns of biodiversity. Our investigations span a range of fields, including chemical, community, and landscape ecology. Projects in the Jamieson Lab aim to inform applied problems in sustainable agriculture, conservation biology, natural resource management, and restoration ecology.
Plants, insects, and microbes represent a vast majority of earth’s biodiversity. These organisms comprise the core of terrestrial food webs and provide critical ecosystem services for life on earth, including humankind.
We explore how chemistry mediates interactions between plants, insects, and microbes. We study plant compounds that in some cases attract or in other cases deter insect pests and pollinators. Some of these phytochemicals affect not only the nutrition of insects and microbes, but also human nutrition.
We investigate pollinators and their floral resources in natural and agricultural ecosystems. The goal of this work is to inform conservation strategies and best management practices for supporting abundant and diverse pollinators as well as the plants they depend on.
We study how human-caused environmental disturbances, including land-use change, nitrogen deposition, and climate change, influence plants and insects. This work focuses on understanding the effects of global change factors on ecological interactions between organisms and patterns of biodiversity.
Our research evaluates abiotic and biotic factors that affect a plant’s susceptibility to herbivory and how insect herbivores in turn can alter plant traits and interactions with other organisms. Insect herbivores play critical roles in their environment — influencing plant productivity, nutrient cycling, and food web dynamics.
