Hello! I'm Karolina Zabinski and am currently a postdoctoral researcher under the joint mentorship of Drs. Kathleen Kay, Kristy Kroeker and Ingrid Parker at UC Santa Cruz. Here, I study how microbial communities contribute to ecological regime shifts and what this means for ecosystem functioning as well as conservation. Before coming to UC Santa Cruz, I earned my Ph.D. in Population Biology from UC Davis under the advisement of Dr. Jay Stachowicz where I studied the microbial contributions to intraspecific variation, particularly in changing environments. 

Previously, I worked as a research tech with Drs. Joseph Mendelson III, Donald Uzarski, Marc Weissburg, and Joseph Montoya at Zoo Atlanta, Central Michigan University, and Georgia Tech where I received my bachelor's degree in Biology with a certificate in Earth and Atmospheric Science.

Explore my research, teaching, and service throughout this website. Welcome.