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PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
Staff Scientist (2022 - present)
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2019 - 2021)
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama
Assistant Professor (2018)
Department of Biology, Regis University, Denver, Colorado
Affiliate Faculty (2016 - 2018)
Department of Biology, Regis University, Denver, Colorado
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2015 - 2016)
Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California
EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Biology (2015)
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Jointly advised by Dr. Thomas Kursar and Dr. Lissy Coley
B.S. Biology (Honors), minor Environmental Studies (2005)
University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington
GRANTS AND AWARDS
Co-PI, Simons Foundation Grant, Award 429440 (2022-pres.)
Co-PI, National Science Foundation Grant, Award 2039487 (2022-pres.)
Smithsonian Secretary's Research Prize (2022)
Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation Travel Award (2013)
Garden Club of America Award in Tropical Botany (2012)
A. Herbert Gold and Marian W. Gold Scholarship (2011)
Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellowship (2011)
University of Utah Global Change and Ecosystem Center Research Grant (2011)
Center for Tropical Forest Science Research Grant (2010)
Smithsonian Institution 10-Week Graduate Student Fellowship (2009)
Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research (2009)
Puget Sound Enrichment Grant (2005)
PUBLICATIONS
Saltonstall, K., Spear, E. R., Glodowska, M. A., and J. S. Hall. 2025. Tree species identity drives fungal, but not bacterial, soil community shifts in tropical monoculture plantations. Forests 16 (1366).
Spear, E. R. 2025. Life & death are not opposing forces, they represent a perfectly balanced cycle and fungi are the cryptic puppeteers. In A Matter of Framing: Notes on Representation, Volume 13, ed. Irene Kopelman, pp. 48-69. Roma Publications (ISBN 9789464460810).
Spear, E. R. and E. A. Mordecai. 2024. Host-generalist phytopathogens and the maintenance of forest diversity on Barro Colorado Island. In The First 100 Years of Research on Barro Colorado Island: Plant and Ecosystem Science, Volume 1, ed. H. C. Muller-Landau and S. J. Wright, pp. 421–429. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
Broders, K.D., Capador-Barreto, H.D., Iriarte, G., Wright, S. J., Espinosa, H., Baur, M., Lemus-Peralta, M.A., Rojas, E., and E.R. Spear. 2024. Oomycete communities in lowland tropical forest soils vary in abundance and are composed of saprophytes and pathogens of seeds and seedlings of multiple plant species. American Journal of Botany 111(12): e16425.
Acuña, I.; Andrade-Piedra, J.; Andrivon, D.; Armengol, J.; Arnold, A. E.; Avelino, J.; Bandyopadhyay, R.; Bihon Legesse, W.; Bock, C.; Bove, F.; Brenes-Arguedas, T.; Calonnec, A.; Carmona, M.; Carnegie, A. J.; Castilla, N. P.; Chen, X.; Coletta-Filho, H. Della; Coley, P. D.; Cox, K.; Davey, T.; Del Ponte, E.; Denman, S.; Desprez-Loustau, M.-L.; Dewdney, M.; Djurle, A.; Drenth, A.; Ducousso, A.; Esker, P. D. ; Fiaboe, L.; Fourie, P.; Frankel, S. J.; Frey, P.; Garcia-Figuera, S.; Garrett, K. A.; Guérin, M.; Hardy, G. E. St. J.; Hausladen, H.; Hu, X.; Hüberli, D.; Juzwik, J.; Kang, Z.; Kenyon, L.; Kreuze, J.; Kromann, P.; Kubiriba, J.; Kuhnem, P.; Kumar, J.; Kumar, L.; Lebrun, M.-H.; Legg, J.; Leon, A.; Ma, Z.; Mahuku, G.; Makinson, R. O.; Marzachi, C.; McDonald, B. A.; McRoberts, N. D.; Menkir, A.; Mikaberidze, A.; Munck, I.; Nelson, A.; Nguyen, N. T. T.; O’Gara, E.; Ojiambo, P.; Ortega-Beltran, A.; Paul, P.; Pethybridge, S.; Pinon, J.; Ramsfield, T.; Rizzo, D. M.; Rossi, V.; Safni, I.; Sah, S.; Santini, A.; Sautua, F.; Savary, S.*; Schreinemachers, P.; Singh, M.; Spear, E. R.; Srinivasan, R.; Tripathi, L.; Vicent, A.; Viljoen, A.; Willocquet, L.; Woods, A. J.; Wu, B.; Xia, X.; Xu, X.; Yuen, J.; Zalamea, P.-C.; Zhou, C. 2023. A global assessment of the state of plant health. Plant Disease. 107:3649-3665.
Brenes‐Arguedas, T., A. E. Arnold, P. D. Coley, E. R. Spear, and P. C. Zalamea. 2022. Amazon Forest. In L. Willocquet, M. Singh, S.Sah, F. Bove, S. Savary, and J. Yuen (Eds.). Global Plant Health Assessment. International Society for Plant Pathology. https://www.isppweb.org/about_gpha.asp
Spear, E. R. and K. D. Broders. 2021. Host-generalist fungal pathogens of seedlings may maintain forest diversity via host-specific impacts and differential susceptibility among tree species. New Phytologist 231: 460-474. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17379
Kendig, A., E. R. Spear, S. C. Daws, L. Flory, and E. A. Mordecai. 2021. Native perennial and non-native annual grasses shape pathogen community composition and disease severity in a California grassland. Journal of Ecology 109: 900-912.
Farner, J. E., E. R. Spear, and E. A. Mordecai. 2020. Habitat type and interannual variation shape unique fungal pathogen communities on a California native bunchgrass. Fungal Ecology 48: 100983.
Uricchio, L. H., S. C. Daws, E. R. Spear, and E. A. Mordecai. 2019. Priority effects and non-hierarchical competition shape species composition in a complex grassland community. The American Naturalist 193: 213-226.
Read a brief description.
Spear, E. R. and E. A. Mordecai. 2018. Foliar pathogens are unlikely to stabilize coexistence of competing species in a California grassland. Ecology 99: 2250-2259.
Summaries & related images:
Spear, E. R. and E. A. Mordecai. 2018. Foliar Pathogens are Unlikely to Stabilize Coexistence of Competing Species in a California Grassland. Bull Ecol Soc Am 99(4):e01432
Spear, E. R. 2017. Phylogenetic relationships and spatial distributions of putative fungal pathogens of seedlings across a rainfall gradient in Panama. Fungal Ecology 26: 65-73.
Spear, E. R., P. D. Coley, and T. A. Kursar. 2015. Do pathogens limit the distributions of tropical trees across a rainfall gradient? Journal of Ecology 103: 165-174.
Featured in The Washington Post and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute newsletter.
Editors' Choice in the February 6, 2015 Issue of Science.
Elliott, J. K., E. Spear, and S. Wyllie-Echeverria. 2006. Mats of Beggiatoa bacteria reveal that organic pollution from lumber mills inhibits growth of Zostera marina. Marine Ecology 27: 372-380.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Visiting Faculty (Online), Miami University (Summer 2019), Course taught: Regional Ecology
Faculty, Regis University (2016 - 2018). Courses taught: General Biology I: Organismic (BL 258), Organismic Biology Lab (BL 259), Environmental Conservation & Restoration Seminar (BL 664B), Intro to Environmental Science (ENVS 250), Environmental Science Lab (ENVS 251), Principles of Ecology Lab (BL 403)
NSF Graduate STEM Fellow in K-12 Education (2013 - 2014)
Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Utah (2008 - 2012)
Mentor for international undergraduates and postgraduates (2009 - present)
Interpretive guide on STRI rainforest canopy crane and on Barro Colorado Island (2010 - present)
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, University of Puget Sound (2003)
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