Biodiversity Nexus
Team Vision/Mission
Mission:
To establish UNM as a national leader in transdisciplinary, collections-based research addressing Earth-Life interactions from deep time to the present. In an era of accelerated biodiversity loss, emerging disease, and rapid environmental change, natural history collections have become irreplaceable scientific assets. Our long-term vision is measurable progress toward establishing a UNM Level 3 Center for transdisciplinary biodiversity research that serves as an intellectual and organizational hub unifying collections-based research across UNM campuses and strengthening connections with partners across New Mexico.
Vision:
Our aim is to establish UNM as a national leader in transdisciplinary, collections-based research addressing Earth-Life interactions from deep time to the present. In an era of accelerated biodiversity loss, emerging disease, and rapid environmental change, natural history collections have become irreplaceable scientific assets. Our group will produce foundational publications, integrated datasets, and new methodological frameworks. These efforts will enable New Mexicans to actively participate in the rediscovery of our natural heritage.
News & Events
coming soon!Current Projects
Biodiversity Response to Environmental Change
Environmental change is reshaping ecosystems throughout New Mexico and the Southwest, affecting species distributions, ecological processes, and biodiversity across landscapes. This project integrates fossil records, natural history collections, and contemporary ecological data to understand how species and ecosystems respond to changing environmental conditions over time. By identifying the factors that influence resilience, adaptation, and extinction risk, the project aims to support conservation planning and ecosystem management in a rapidly changing world.
Collections as Scientific Infrastructure
UNM houses one of the nation's most significant concentrations of natural history collections, including biological, geological, paleontological, and environmental archives. This project connects these resources through shared data and interdisciplinary research to better understand environmental change across time and space. By transforming collections into an integrated research network, the project seeks to improve forecasting, inform management decisions, and strengthen New Mexico's capacity to respond to emerging environmental challenges.
Environmental Contaminants and Ecosystem Health
Human-derived contaminants, including heavy metals, radionuclides, PFAS, and microplastics, move through ecosystems in ways that can affect wildlife, food webs, and human communities. This project examines how contaminants accumulate and spread across environmental systems, using both historical collections and contemporary research to understand long-term biological impacts. The findings will help inform environmental management, public health, and environmental justice efforts throughout New Mexico.
Disease Emergence and Environmental Change
Climate and environmental conditions play a critical role in the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases. This project combines museum collections, ecological records, pathogen data, and environmental monitoring to investigate how disease systems respond to changes in climate, habitat, and biodiversity. Through a One Health approach, the research seeks to improve understanding of disease risks affecting wildlife, ecosystems, and human populations.
Earth System Tipping Points and Ecological Recovery
Throughout Earth's history, ecosystems have experienced periods of rapid environmental disruption, biodiversity loss, and recovery. This project examines the factors that drive ecological tipping points, mass extinctions, and ecosystem resilience by integrating fossil records with modern biodiversity research. Understanding how biological systems responded to past environmental crises may help predict and prepare for future environmental change.
Research Questions
Our Team
Conveners
Corinne Myers, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Michael Anderson, Biology, Director Museum of Southwestern Biology
Jason Moore, Honors College
Felisa Smith, Biology
Members
Lisa Barrow, BiologySteven Bradfute, Center for Global Health
Matthew Campen, College of Pharmacy
Jose Cerrato Corrales, Civil, Construction, & Environmental Engineering
Joseph Cook, Biology
Tomasz Falkowski, Honors College
Marcus Garcia, College of Pharmacy
Emily Jones, Anthropology/Geography & Environmental Studies
Bethany Jorgensen, College of Pharmacy
Fernando Machado Stredel, Biology
Tyler Mackey, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Katie Markovich, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Marisa Repasch, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Eve Rowland, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Helen Wearing, Mathematics and Statistics/Biology
