McCary photo

WEBSITE(S)| Google Scholar Publication List | McCary Lab

McCary research image

My research examines the fundamental drivers and constraints of soil biodiversity, specifically how diversity relates to food web dynamics, community and ecosystem responses to environmental disturbances, and the feedback loops between food webs and ecosystem functioning. There are three major questions I investigate: (1) how do invasive species change soil biodiversity and associated ecosystem health? (2) What are the impacts of urbanization on ecosystem and community processes? (3) How does ecosystem structure affect food web responses to changes in resource availability? To address these questions, I use an integrative approach that includes observational and experimental studies, ecological modeling, and molecular techniques.

Research Areas

ecosystem ecology, ecological modeling, foodwebs, soil biodiversity

Education

B.A. Biology (2010) North Central College

Ph.D. Biology (2016) University of Illinois-Chicago

Body

Changes or additions to profiles.rice.edu will not take effect on the Rice sub-sites until after its next refresh which occurs at 5:15am, 10:15am, 1:15pm, 4:15pm and 7:15pm daily. (This does not affect profiles.rice.edu)