APPOINTMENTS

Associate Professor 2021 - Present

Program Chair, Biology (2021 - Present)

University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

Natural and Applied Sciences, Biology

Assistant Professor 2016 - 2021

University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

Natural and Applied Sciences, Biology

Postdoctoral Research Associate  March 2014 – August 2016

      W. K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University

      Advisor: Katherine L. Gross

EDUCATION

Ph.D. from the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, December 2013

University of California, Santa Barbara 

Advisor: Carla M. D’Antonio

 Committee: Jonathan M. Levine, Bruce E. Mahall and Steven D. Gaines

 Dissertation: The influence of savanna oaks (Quercus spp.) on California grassland plant  composition

Certificate in College and University Teaching, December 2013

       University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA

B.A., Environmental Studies and Biology, summa cum laude, May 2007

 Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT

 Advisor: Stephen Trombulak

 Honors Thesis: Sheep grazing as a management strategy for reducing scrub oak (Quercus spp.)  area on Nantucket Island, MA.

Download full C.V. here

Current address:

University of Wisconsin Green Bay

Natural and Applied Sciences

2420 Nicolet Dr.

Green Bay, WI 54311-7001

PUBLICATIONS

Fermanich, K., M. Meyers, L. Loken, M. Bischoff-Gray, R. Turco, K. A. Stahlheber, L. F. Duriancik, M. Dornbush & M. Komiskey. Accepted. Challenges in linking soil health to edge-of-field water quality across the Great Lakes Basin. Journal of Environmental Quality. Early View.

Olson, C. R., K. L. Schmude, J. J. Dimick, K. A. Stahlheber, P. S. Forsythe, C. J. Houghton. 2022. Benthos of Green Bay, Lake Michigan revisited after 40 years: a temporal update and assessment of environmental associations. Journal of Great Lakes Research 48(2): 526-537.

Emery, S. M., L. Bell-Dereske, K. A. Stahlheber and K. L. Gross. 2022. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community responses to drought and fertilization in switchgrass stands. Applied Soil Ecology 169:104218.

Stahlheber, K. A., J. Lindquist, P. D. Drogosh, D. Pennington and K. L. Gross. 2020. Predicting productivity: A trait-based analysis of variability in biomass production among switchgrass feedstock cultivars. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 300: 106980

Emery, S. A., K. A. Stahlheber & K. L. Gross. 2020. Drought minimized nitrogen fertilization effects on bioenergy feedstock quality. Biomass & Bioenergy 133: 105452.

C. M. Tyler and K. A. Stahlheber. In press. California oak savannas and grasslands. In DiPaulo, D. et al., editors. Encyclopedia of the World’s Biomes (forthcoming). Elsevier.

Knapp, D. A., J. J. Knapp, K. A. Stahlheber and T. Dudley. 2019. A little goes a long way when controlling invasive plants for biodiversity conservation. Pages 643- 650 in C. R. Veitch, M. N. Clout, A. R. Martin, J. C. Russell, and C. J. West, editors. Island invasives: scaling up to meet the challenge. Proceedings of the international conference on island invasives 2017. IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Koerner, S. E., M. D. Smith,  D. E. Burkepile, N. P. Hanan, M. L. Avolio, S. L. Collins, A. K. Knapp, N. P. Lemoine, E. J. Forrestel, S. Eby, D. I. Thompson, G. Aguado-Santacruz, J. P. Anderson, M. Anderson, A. Angassa, S. Bagchi, E. S. Bakker, G. Bastin, L. E. Baur, K. H. Beard, E. A. Beever, P. J. Bohlen, E. H. Boughton, D. Canestro, A. Cesa, E. Chaneton, J. Cheng, C. M. D'Antonio, C. Deleglise, F. Dembélé, J. Dorrough, D. Eldridge, B. Fernandez-Going, S. Fernández-Lugo, L. H. Fraser, B. Freedman, G. Garcia-Salgado, J. R. Goheen, L. Guo, S. Husheer, M. Karembé, J. M. H. Knops, T. Kraaij, A. Kulmatiski, M. Kytöviita, F. Lezama, G. Loucougaray, A. Loydi, D. G. Milchunas, S. Milton,15 J. W. Morgan, C. Moxham, K. C. Nehring, H. Olff, T. M. Palmer, S. Rebollo, C. Riginos, A. C. Risch, M. Rueda, M. Sankaran, T. Sasaki, K. Schoenecker, N. L. Schultz, M. Schütz, A. Schwabe, F. Siebert, C. Smit, K. A. Stahlheber, C. Storm, D. J. Strong, J. Su, Y. V. Tiruvaimozhi, C. Tyler, J. Val, M. L. Vandegehuchte, K. E. Veblen, L. T. Vermeire, D. Ward, J. Wu, T. P. Young, Q. Yu, T. J. Zelikova. 2018. Change in dominance determines herbivore effects on plant biodiversity. Nature Ecology and Evolution 2: 1925-1932.

Emery, S. M., E. R. Kinnetz, L. Bell-Dereske, K. A. Stahlheber and K. L. Gross. 2018. Low variation in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal associations and effects on biomass among switchgrass cultivars. Biomass and Bioenergy 119:503-508.

Landis, D., C. Gratton, R. Jackson, K. Gross, D. Duncan, C. Liang, T. Meehan, B. Robertson, T Schmidt, K. A. Stahlheber, J. Tiedje and B. Werling. 2018. Biomass and biofuel crop effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services in the North Central US. Biomass and Bioenergy 114:18-29.

Stahlheber, K. A., C. M. D’Antonio and C. M. Tyler. 2017. Livestock exclusion impacts on oak savanna habitats - differential responses of understory and open habitats. Rangeland Ecology and Management 70(3): 316-323.

 Stahlheber, K. A. 2016. The impacts of isolation, canopy size, and environmental conditions on patterns of understory species richness in an oak savanna. Plant Ecology 217(7): 825-841.

Stahlheber, K. A., B. Watson, T. L. Dickson, R. Disney and K. L. Gross. 2016. Balancing biofuel production and biodiversity - harvesting frequency effects on tallgrass prairie depend on plant community composition. Biomass and Bioenergy 92: 98-105.

Mordecai, E. A., N. A. Molinari, K. A. Stahlheber, K. Gross, and C. M. D’Antonio. 2015. Controls over native perennial grass exclusion and persistence in annual-invaded California grasslands. Ecology 96(10): 2643-2652.

 Stahlheber, K. A., K. L. Crispin, C. Anton, and C. M. D’Antonio. 2015. The ghosts of trees past: savanna trees create enduring legacies in plant species composition. Ecology 96(9): 2510-2522.

 Stahlheber, K. A.  and C. M. D’Antonio. 2014. Do tree canopies enhance perennial grass restoration in California oak savannas? Restoration Ecology 22(5): 574-581.

 Stahlheber, K. A. and C. M. D’Antonio. 2013. Managing plant composition with livestock: A meta-analysis of grazing in California Mediterranean grasslands. Biological Conservation 157: 300-308. 

D’Antonio, C. M., K. A. Stahlheber, and N. A. Molinari. 2011. Grasses and Forbs. Pages 280 – 290 in Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions (D. Simberloff and M. Rejmánek, eds.). Berkeley: University of California Press. (ISBN: 9780520948433)

FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS & AWARDS

2022 University of Wisconsin Green Bay Research Booster Program

2021 US Fish and Wildlife Service National Coastal Program

2021 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Sustain Our Great Lakes

2020 Fox River / Green Bay National Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program

2020 University of Wisconsin Green Bay Summer Research Scholar

2019    University of Wisconsin Green Bay Holz Fund Grant

2018    University of Wisconsin Green Bay Grants in Aid of Research

2017    University of Wisconsin Green Bay Laboratory and Classroom Modernization Fund

2016    University of Wisconsin Green Bay College of Science and Technology One-Time Funds for Enhancing Student Success

2016    University of Wisconsin Green Bay Grants in Aid of Research

2016    University of Wisconsin Green Bay Teaching Enhancement Grant

2012    Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve Graduate Student Research Grant

2011    Vernon I. Cheadle Award

2011    National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DEB 1110569)

2009    California Native Plant Society Educational Grant Award

2009    National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Honorable Mention

2008    Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant

2007    University of California Santa Barbara Dean’s Fellowship

2007    Phi Beta Kappa

2007    Janet C. Curry '49 Award in Biological Sciences (awarded by Middlebury College)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

University of Wisconsin Green Bay – Natural and Applied Sciences

2020 Restoration Ecology

2020, 2021                  First Year Seminar: Tending Nature: Restoring Ecosystems in an Era of Change

2018 – 2022                Ecology and Management of Ecosystems (graduate students)

2018, 2019                  Scientific Writing

2018, 2019                  Biology Seminar (capstone)

2017 – 2021                Landscape Ecology (graduate students)

2016 – 2022                Principles of Biology – Organisms, Ecology and Evolution 

2016 – 2022                Plant Physiology

University of California Santa Barbara - Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology Department and Environmental Studies Department

2012, 2013                  Instructor of Record, Foundations of Ecosystem Restoration

2012, 2013                  Teaching Assistant, Tropical Ecology

2012                            Teaching Assistant, Plant Biology

2011                            Teaching Assistant, Foundations of Ecosystem Restoration

2010, 2011                  Teaching Assistant, Ecology and Management of California Wildlands

2010                            Teaching Assistant, Agriculture and Biotechnology

2009                            Teaching Assistant, Diversity of Life (Introductory Biology Lab)

2009                            Teaching Assistant, Plant Ecology

2008, 2009, 2012        Teaching Assistant, Environmental Ecology

Educational Training and Professional Development

2021    Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (UW-Green Bay), Community of Practice for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in STEM courses.

2020    Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (UW-Green Bay), Intellectual Road Trip.

2017    Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (UW-Green Bay), Teaching and Learning Community on Capstone Experiences.

2015    An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching, Online Course developed by the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL), www.coursera.org

2013    Certificate in College and University Teaching, University of California Santa Barbara

2010    Plant Taxonomy Teacher Training, California Native Plant Society, Berkeley CA

MENTORING EXPERIENCE

Independent Study & Research Projects - UWGB 2016 - Present

2021 Cofrin Research Grant to T. Kancoglu - Soil composition of the Wequiock Creek Natural Area and the role it may play in restoration efforts

2020 Cofrin Research Grant to M. Tarczewski - Aquatic plant survey and investigation of submerged macrophyte root associated fungi in the Cofrin Arboretum

2019 NAS Heirloom Fund Grant to B. Byrne - Impacts of biodiversity on soil carbon sequestration in a freshwater, coastal wetland

2018 NAS Heirloom Fund Grant to O. Poelmann - Evaluating the potential use of raingardens on the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay campus as stormwater mitigation

2017 NAS Heirloom Fund Grant to J. Shrovnal - Phosphorus uptake potential of native and invasive plants for use as a rain garden

Mentor for 13 undergraduate independent projects and/or research credits

Graduate Committees (M.S. and Ph.D.) - UWGB & U of Louisville 2015 - Present

Undergraduate Research Assistant Program - MSU   2014 - 2016

Research Experience for Undergraduates Program - MSU   2015 & 2016

Research Experience for Teachers Program - MSU & UW-Madison   2015

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program - UCSB College of Creative Studies 2011 & 2012    

Mentor for undergraduate research units - UCSB   2009 – 2013

Summer Pre-College Research Mentorship Program – UCSB Summer Sessions   2010

Apprentice Researchers Summer Program – UCSB California NanoSystems Institute   2008