Matteo Petit Bon

Bio

I am a plant and ecosystem ecologist investigating how global change drivers shape ecosystems, with a particular focus on cold systems. Over the past decade, my research across the Italian Alps, the European Arctic (Svalbard and Norway), and Alaska has explored how climate change factors such as warming, altered snow regimes, herbivory, and flooding drive shifts in plant-community structure, functional diversity, and ecosystem processes including carbon and nutrient cycling. I often use a trait-based approach, combining local-scale experiments with large-scale data syntheses, to link plant and ecosystem responses to environmental change. I’m part of several scientific research networks, such as the International Tundra Experiment and the Herbivory Network. While much of my work has focused on Arctic ecosystems, I am increasingly interested in extending my research to lower-latitude systems.

Publications

• Experimental winter icing and summer warming effects on carbon fluxes and litter decomposition in mesic tundra, Adventdalen, Svalbard (2016-2022) , UC Santa Barbara (2026)
• Plant functional trait responses to experimental flooding and warming in tundra heath, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA (2024) , UC Santa Barbara (2026)
• Rapid plant functional trait responses to warming, flooding, and herbivory in high-latitude coastal wetlands , Oecologia (2026)
• Towards rainy high Arctic winters: How experimental icing and summer warming affect tundra plant phenology, productivity and reproduction , Journal of Ecology (2026)
• Wetland greenhouse gas response, biomass, and plant height to experimental warming, flooding, and herbivory, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Western Alaska, USA) (2024) , UC Santa Barbara (2026)
• Wetland water descriptive characteristics and soil characteristics in response to experimental warming, flooding, and goose herbivory, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Western Alaska, USA) (2023-2024) , UC Santa Barbara (2026)
• Emerging priorities in terrestrial herbivory research in the Arctic , Arctic Science (2025)
• On the quest for novelty in ecology , Peer Community Journal (2025)
• Plant diversity dynamics over space and time in a warming Arctic , Nature (2025)
• Responding to rising waters and temperatures: greenhouse gas flux from a high-latitude coastal wetland , Environmental Research Letters (2025)