I am an ecologist who studies how human activities impact ecosystems, and how we can design strategies to restore degraded habitats. I focus on how plants within a community interact with each other and with soil to influence ecosystem function and resilience in the face of future disturbances.
My projects mix field experiments, analysis of “big data”, and basic natural history to investigate fundamental questions about how we can best conserve biodiversity.
Among the main questions that my research investigates are:
1) The ecology and management of invasive species;
2) The design of restoration strategies;
and 3) The ecology of our region’s unique barren ecosystems.
Evolution, Genetics, and Ecology (BIO103)
Introduction to Environmental Studies (ENS100)
Plant Ecology (BIO324)
Advanced Topics in Ecology (BIO329)
ESPE Senior Seminar (ENS460)
Selected Publications: [See Publications for more details and pdf’s]
Brown, M.E., R.O. Prieto, J.D. Corbin, J.H. Ness, R. Borroto-Paez, T.S. McCay, and M.S. Farnsworth. 2021. Pirates of the Caribbean: Plant invasions, tourism, trade, and Cuba’s changing tide. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2311
Corbin, J.D. and R.K. Thiet. 2020. Temperate biocrusts: mesic counterparts to their better-known dryland cousins. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2234
Beaury, E.M. J.T. Finn, J.D. Corbin, V. Barr, B.A. Bradley. 2019. Biotic resistance to invasion is ubiquitous across ecosystems of the United States. Ecology Letters. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13446
Corbin, J.D., G. R. Robinson, L.M. Hafkemeyer, and S.N. Handel. 2016. A long-term evaluation of applied nucleation as a strategy to facilitate forest restoration. Ecological Applications 26:104-114. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0075