Eliza Clark

Hey there! I'm Eliza and I'm an applied evolutionary ecologist. I like to know why things are the way that they are, particularly natural phenomena and living things.  I combine classic ecology (e.g. interactions between organisms and their environments) with evolution (how traits change in populations over time) to answer these big questions. I'm passionate about conservation of native biodiversity, so I apply this framework mainly to invasive species, which devastate many ecosystems. Basically, I want to know how and why invasive species got to be where they are now. And getting that answer involves a little ecology and a little evolution! With this knowledge, we can better predict where invasive species might be in the future, how they might be changing to become even better invaders, and how we can use specialized insects to control them. 

I am currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology at Colorado State University in Ruth Hufbauer's lab. I am also a USDA-NIFA Pre-doctoral Fellow (2022-2024) and a Sustainability Leadership Fellow (2022-2023).