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Earth & Environmental Sciences

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Michelle Spicer, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at Lehigh University

Michelle Spicer

Assistant Professor

610.758.5175
mes412@lehigh.edu

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Research Areas

Additional Interests

  • Forest Ecology

Biography

Dr. Michelle Elise Spicer is a plant community ecologist who works primarily in forested ecosystems. Her research broadly focuses on understanding: 1) the distribution and drivers of plant diversity across the globe; 2) the ecology and evolution of epiphytic (canopy) plants; and 3) how natural and anthropogenic disturbances change community dynamics and resilience.

Prior to her position as an Assistant Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences at Lehigh, Michelle was  an NSF postdoc co-advised by Dr. Liza Comita in the Yale School of the Environment and Dr. Carrie Woods in the University of Puget Sound Biology Department. Michelle got her PhD in the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Pittsburgh in Dr. Walter Carson's research group and her Masters in the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences at Lehigh University, working with Dr. Robert Booth. She also did her undergrad at Lehigh, where she got a BS in an interdisciplinary engineering honors program (IDEAS), with concentrations in chemical engineering and environmental sustainability.

When not climbing trees or traveling for research, Michelle also enjoys singing, baking, and spending time with her friends, family, and beloved houseplants.

Published Articles

Undergraduate mentee co-authors noted with an asterisk (*).
14. Yancy AJ, Lee BR,  Kuebbing SE, Neufeld HS, Spicer ME, & Heberling JM. “Evaluating the definition and distribution of spring ephemeral wildflowers in eastern North America.” 2024. American Journal of Botany, 111, e16323. PDF.

13. Spicer ME & Ortega J. “Source height and contact with terrestrial soil drive transplanted epiphyte performance.” 2023. Journal of Ecology: 111, 2388-2400. PDF.

12. Spicer ME, Royo AA, Wenzel JW, & Carson WP. “Understory plant growth forms respond independently to combined natural and anthropogenic disturbances.” 2023. Forest Ecology and Management: 543(121077). PDF.

​11. Spicer ME, Ortega J, & Carson WP. “Substrate texture and natural removal processes mediate vascular epiphyte establishment: experimental evidence from a Panamanian cloud forest.” 2022. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society: 149(1), 86-97. https://doi.org/10.3159/TORREY-D-21-00038.1 PDF.

10. Spicer ME & Woods CL. “A case for studying biotic interactions in epiphyte ecology and evolution.” 2022. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics (54): 125658. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2021.125658 PDF.

9. Spicer ME, Radhamoni HVN, Duguid MC, Queenborough SA, Comita LS. “Herbaceous plant diversity in forest ecosystems: Patterns, mechanisms, and threats.” 2021. Plant Ecology: 223, 117-129. doi:10.1007/s11258-021-01202-9 PDF.

8. Echeverri SA, Miller AE, *Chen J, McQueen EW, Plakke M, Spicer M, Hoke KL, Stoddard MC, Morehouse NI. “How signaling geometry shapes the efficacy and evolution of animal communication systems.”  2021. Integrative and Comparative Biology:61(3), 787-813. doi:10.1093/icb/icab090 PDF.

7. Spicer ME, *Mellor H, & Carson WP. “Seeing beyond the trees: a comparison of tropical and temperate plant growth forms and their vertical distribution.” 2020. Ecology: 101(4). DOI:10.1002/ecy.2974 PDF.

6. Slyder JB, Wenzel J, Royo AA, Spicer ME, & Carson WP. “Post-windthrow salvage logging increases seedling and understory diversity with little impact on composition immediately after logging.” 2019. New Forests: 1-12. PDF.

5. Spicer ME, Keiser CN, & Pruitt JN. “Spiders, microbes, and sex: Bacterial exposure on copulatory organs alters mating behaviour in funnel-web spiders.” 2019.  Ethology: 125(10), 677-685. PDF.

4. Spicer ME, *Suess KF, Wenzel JW, & Carson WP.  “Does salvage logging erase a key physical legacy of a tornado blowdown? A case study of tree-tip-up mounds.” 2018. Canadian Journal of Forest Research: 48, 976-982. PDF.

3. Pruitt JN, Howell KA, Gladney SJ, Yang Y, Lichtenstein JLL, Spicer ME, Echeverri SA, & Pinter-Wollman N. 2017. “Behavioral hypervolumes of predator groups and predator-predator interactions shape prey survival rates and selection on prey behavior.” The American Naturalist: 189(3). PDF.

2. Spicer ME, Stark AY, Adams BJ, *Kneale R, Kaspari M, & Yanoviak SP. 2017. “Thermal constraints on foraging of tropical canopy ants.” Oecologia: 183 (4). PDF.

1. Keturakis CJ, Ni F, Spicer M, Beaver MG, Caram HS, & Wachs IE. 2014. “Monitoring Solid Oxide CO2 Capture Sorbents in Action.”ChemSusChem: 7(12), 3459-3466. PDF.
 

Articles not yet accepted (available upon request)

McKenzie C, Ortega J, Comita L & Spicer ME. In review 2024. "Vertical distribution and survival of epiphytes in a Neotropical premontane cloud forest." Plant Ecology and Diversity.
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