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D-Index & Metrics

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
87
Citations
35715
World Ranking
541
National Ranking
191

Overview

Melinda D. Smith is affiliated with Colorado State University in the United States. Their research primarily spans the fields of Environmental Science and Agricultural and Biological Sciences. Within these broader areas, they have contributed extensively to subfields such as Global and Planetary Change, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, and Plant Science.

Their work covers several main topics, including:

  • Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
  • Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
  • Plant and animal studies
  • Pasture and Agricultural Systems
  • Species Distribution and Climate Change
  • Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
  • Rangeland and Wildlife Management

Smith's frequent publication venues include:

  • Journal of Ecology
  • Oecologia
  • Global Change Biology
  • New Phytologist
  • Functional Ecology

Some of the recent papers with high citation counts featuring Smith's work or related field advances include:

  • Fire as a fundamental ecological process: Research advances and frontiers (2020, Journal of Ecology)
  • Expert perspectives on global biodiversity loss and its drivers and impacts on people (2022, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment)
  • General destabilizing effects of eutrophication on grassland productivity at multiple spatial scales (2020, Nature Communications)
  • Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally (2024, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
  • Clarifying the effect of biodiversity on productivity in natural ecosystems with longitudinal data and methods for causal inference (2023, Nature Communications)

Smith frequently collaborates with several co-authors in related ecological research, including:

  • Alan K. Knapp
  • Scott L. Collins
  • Qiang Yu
  • Sally E. Koerner
  • Yann Hautier

Best Publications

  • Biodiversity increases the resistance of ecosystem productivity to climate extremes

    Forest Isbell;Dylan Craven;John Connolly;Michael Loreau

  • Variation Among Biomes in Temporal Dynamics of Aboveground Primary Production

    Alan K. Knapp;Melinda D. Smith

  • Convergence across biomes to a common rain-use efficiency

    Travis E. Huxman;Melinda D. Smith;Melinda D. Smith;Philip A. Fay;Alan K. Knapp

  • Rainfall variability, carbon cycling, and plant species diversity in a mesic grassland

    Alan K. Knapp;Philip A. Fay;John M. Blair;Scott L. Collins;Scott L. Collins

  • Consequences of More Extreme Precipitation Regimes for Terrestrial Ecosystems

    Alan K. Knapp;Claus Beier;David D. Briske;Aimée T. Classen

  • The invasion paradox: reconciling pattern and process in species invasions.

    J. D. Fridley;J. J. Stachowicz;S. Naeem;D. F. Sax

  • Assessing the Response of Terrestrial Ecosystems to Potential Changes in Precipitation

    Jake F. Weltzin;Michael E. Loik;Susanne Schwinning;David G. Williams

  • Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation

    Elizabeth T. Borer;Eric W. Seabloom;Daniel S. Gruner;W. Stanley Harpole

  • An ecological perspective on extreme climatic events: a synthetic definition and framework to guide future research

    Melinda D. Smith

  • Integrative modelling reveals mechanisms linking productivity and plant species richness

    James B. Grace;T. Michael Anderson;Eric W. Seabloom;Elizabeth T. Borer

  • Dominant species maintain ecosystem function with non‐random species loss

    Melinda D. Smith;Alan K. Knapp

  • An integrated conceptual framework for long‐term social–ecological research

    Scott L Collins;Stephen R Carpenter;Scott M Swinton;Daniel E Orenstein

  • Resistance and resilience of a grassland ecosystem to climate extremes

    David L. Hoover;Alan K. Knapp;Melinda D. Smith

  • A framework for assessing ecosystem dynamics in response to chronic resource alterations induced by global change

    Melinda D. Smith;Alan K. Knapp;Scott L. Collins

  • Productivity Is a Poor Predictor of Plant Species Richness

    Peter B. Adler;Eric W. Seabloom;Elizabeth T. Borer;Helmut Hillebrand

  • Fire as a fundamental ecological process: research advances and frontiers

    Kendra K. McLauchlan;Philip E. Higuera;Jessica Miesel;Brendan M. Rogers

  • Multiple facets of biodiversity drive the diversity–stability relationship

    Dylan Craven;Nico Eisenhauer;William D. Pearse;Yann Hautier

  • Finding generality in ecology: a model for globally distributed experiments

    Elizabeth T. Borer;W. Stanley Harpole;Peter B. Adler;Eric M. Lind

  • A meta-analysis of 1,119 manipulative experiments on terrestrial carbon-cycling responses to global change

    Jian Song;Jian Song;Shiqiang Wan;Shiqiang Wan;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Alan K. Knapp

  • Does species diversity limit productivity in natural grassland communities

    James B. Grace;T. Michael Anderson;Melinda D. Smith;Eric W. Seabloom

  • The ecological role of climate extremes: current understanding and future prospects

    Melinda D. Smith

  • Is Nitrogen Deposition Altering the Nitrogen Status of Northeastern Forests

    J. D. Aber;C. L. Goodale;S. V. Ollinger;M. Smith

  • Climate change and precipitation – Consequences of more extreme precipitation regimes for terrestrial ecosystems

    Claus Beier;A Knapp;D Briske

  • Integrative modelling reveals mechanisms linking productivity and plant species richness

    James B. Grace;T. Michael Andersen;Eric W. Seabloom;Elizabeth T. Borer

Frequent Co-Authors

Alan K. Knapp
Alan K. Knapp Colorado State University
Scott L. Collins
Scott L. Collins University of New Mexico
Kevin R. Wilcox
Kevin R. Wilcox University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Meghan L. Avolio
Meghan L. Avolio Johns Hopkins University
Kimberly J. La Pierre
Kimberly J. La Pierre Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Kevin P. Kirkman
Kevin P. Kirkman University of KwaZulu-Natal
Sally E. Koerner
Sally E. Koerner University of North Carolina at Greensboro
John M. Blair
John M. Blair Kansas State University
Yiqi Luo
Yiqi Luo Cornell University
Deron E. Burkepile
Deron E. Burkepile University of California, Santa Barbara

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Related Online Degrees & Career Pathways

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Expanding your education into these areas can complement your background in Ecology and Evolution, leading to unique interdisciplinary career opportunities.

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