Jessica Gurevitch is a plant ecologist known for

meta-analysis Meta-analysis is a method of synthesis of quantitative data from multiple independent studies addressing a common research question. An important part of this method involves computing a combined effect size across all of the studies. As such, th ...

in the fields of ecology and evolution.

Education and career

Gurevitch has a B.S. from Cornell University (1973) and earned her Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Arizona in 1982. She was a postdoctoral fellow for two years at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

before moving to the

State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

in 1985. For two years starting in 1992, Guervitch worked at the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

before returning to Stony Brook where she was promoted to professor in 2000. From 2015 to 2016, Gurevitch was president of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology.

Research

Gurevitch's research interests are centered on biological invasions and meta-analysis in ecology. Her research on grasses perennial plants, and trees relied on a combination of experimental manipulations and observation data. Her interest in biological invasions includes investigations into the invasive flowering plant ''

Centaurea stoebe ''Centaurea stoebe'', the spotted knapweed or panicled knapweed, is a species of ''Centaurea'' native to eastern Europe, although it has spread to North America, where it is considered an invasive species. It forms a tumbleweed, helping to increa ...

'' which is expanding its geographic range in the eastern United States. Gurevitch's research on the recovery of pine barrens after a large 1995 fire in Long Island led to a discussion on the conditions needed to optimize controlled burns to improve the recovery of plants after a fire. In the field of

geoengineering Geoengineering (also known as climate engineering or climate intervention) is the deliberate large-scale interventions in the Earth’s climate system intended to counteract human-caused climate change. The term commonly encompasses two broad cate ...

, Gurevitch considers the ecological consequences of rapid geoengineering projects as a threat to biodiversity. Gurevitch also considered how habitats in marine and terrestrial biomes could be altered by

Stratospheric aerosol injection Solar radiation reduction due to volcanic eruptions, considered the best analogue for stratospheric aerosol injection. Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) is a proposed method of solar geoengineering (or solar radiation modification) to reduc ...

which was covered by the popular press when the paper was published in 2021. Gurevitch first became interested in

, the combination of data from multiple studies, while reading a 1989 story in the Boston Globe that described a project that gathered multiple studies to reveal that boys and girls were equally good in math. She was the first to apply meta-analysis to ecological data in her 1992 paper that used meta-analysis to study competition in field experiments. Gurevitch has subsequently applied meta-analysis to a range of topics including soil ecosystems and their response to warming, interactions between competition and predation, and biological invasions. In a 2018 paper, she reviewed advances made in the field since it first became relevant to medical and social science research in the 1970s. Beyond conducting meta-analysis projects, Gurevitch develops statistical tools and software needed to conduct meta-analysis projects on ecological data, and co-edited a handbook for ecologists and evolutionary biologists using meta-analysis in their research.

Selected publications

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Awards and honors

* Fellow,

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

(2010) * Fellow,

Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

(2013) * Fellow, Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (2014) * President, Society for Research Synthesis Methodology (2015–2016)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurevitch, Jessica Fellows of the Ecological Society of America Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of Arizona alumni Cornell University alumni Stony Brook University faculty American women ecologists American statisticians 21st-century American botanists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American ecologists