Julie Larson

  • Assistant Professor
  • Rachel A. Woods Professorship in Restoration
  • Visit Julie's website

    • Julie Larson

    • Assistant Professor
    • Rachel A. Woods Professorship in Restoration

    Research areas

    Restoration ecology; Management of dryland and rangeland ecosystems; Plant regeneration ecology, including seed and seedling development; Functional (trait-based) ecology; Plant population and community dynamics

    Dr. Larson’s research addresses major challenges in ecological restoration through the lens of plant ecology and functioning. She specializes in plant regeneration with the goal of understanding how soil seed banks, seed-based restoration efforts, and plant recruitment dynamics shape ecosystem recovery after degradation or disturbance. She is also working on collaborative efforts to evaluate and advance equity and inclusion in natural resource disciplines, like rangeland and restoration ecology.

    B.S. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan
    M.S. Environmental Science, Oregon State University
    Ph.D. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder
    Postdoctoral Research Ecologist, USDA Agricultural Research Service

    Autumn 2026-27 Admissions: Please reach out to Dr. Larson to inquire about their ability to admit new students.

    Courses

    • ESRM 304 | Environmental Resource Assessment (5) - Autumn
    • ESRM 490; SEFS 590 | Environmental Resource Assessment (5) - Winter

    Current sponsored projects

    • Testing environmental regeneration thresholds to support dry forest management and resilience

    Selected publications

    Larson, J. E., Neuhaus, D. F., & Copeland, S. M. (2025). Seed and seedling traits suggest ontogenetic coordination in the functional recruitment niche for dryland restoration species. Journal of Ecology.

    Dahl, J., Larson, J. E., Duquette, C., Fernández-Giménez, M. E., Tanner, E. P., Rao, D., & Gloeckner, G. (2025). SRM survey and membership shifts demonstrate “change on the range”. Rangelands.

    Suding, K. N., Collins, C. G., Hallett, L. M., Larios, L., Brigham, L. M., Dudney, J., Farrer, E. C., Larson, J.E., Shackelford, N. & Spasojevic, M. J. (2024). Biodiversity in changing environments: An external‐driver internal‐topology framework to guide intervention.Ecology, e4322.

    Winkler, D. E., Garbowski, M., Kožić, K., Ladouceur, E., Larson, J., Martin, S., … & Korell, L. (2024). Facilitating comparable research in seedling functional ecology. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 15(3), 464-476.

    Larson, J. E., Agneray, A. C., Boyd, C. S., Bradford, J. B., Kildisheva, O. A., Suding, K. N., & Copeland, S. M. (2023). A recruitment niche framework for improving seed‐based restoration. Restoration Ecology, 31(7), e13959.

    Larson, J. E., & Suding, K. N. (2022). Seed bank bias: Differential tracking of functional traits in the seed bank and vegetation across a gradient. Ecology, 103(4), e3651.