Elsa Youngsteadt

Bio

Education

PhD, Entomology, NC State University (2008)

Research Interests

Effects of urbanization, climate change, and other anthropogenic changes on populations, communities, interactions, and ecosystem services; plant-insect interactions.

Extension and Outreach Interests

Urban biodiversity and pollinator conservation; Protecting Pollinators in Urban Landscapes conference

Publications

• Land Use Change Consistently Reduces α- But Not β- and γ-Diversity of Bees , GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY (2025)
• Urbanization strengthens vertical stratification of ant nutrient preferences in a temperate forest ecosystem , PLOS ONE (2025)
• As prey and pollinators, insects increase reproduction and allow for outcrossing in the carnivorous plant Dionaea muscipula , American Journal of Botany (2024)
• Reaching new heights: Arboreal ant diversity in a North American temperate forest ecosystem , Insect Conservation and Diversity (2024)
• Urbanization drives partner switching and loss of mutualism in an ant–plant symbiosis , Ecology (2024)
• Bee species richness through time in an urbanizing landscape of the southeastern United States , Global Change Biology (2023)
• Can behaviour and physiology mitigate effects of warming on ectotherms? A test in urban ants , Journal of Animal Ecology (2023)
• Colony Structure and Redescription of Males in the Rarely Collected Arboreal Ant, Aphaenogaster mariae Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) , Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington (2023)
• Compact or Sprawling Cities: Has the Sparing-Sharing Framework Yielded an Ecological Verdict? , Current Landscape Ecology Reports (2023)
• Larger pollen loads increase risk of heat stress in foraging bumblebees , Biology Letters (2023)