�鶹ɫ��Ƭ

Community ecologist studying pollinators, plants & people

“Biodiversity and ecosystem services despite environmental change”

My scholarship occurs at the intersection of global change biology, landscape ecology, and human well-being. A core theme is understanding the complex links between biodiversity and the ecosystem services that nature provides. I examine these relationships across various scales, from local farms to global food systems, considering the spatial dynamics and social equity dimensions of ecosystem service provision. Often this research focuses on plants and pollinators given their central roles in natural and managed landscapes. For example, I investigate whether wild pollinators enhance crop yields and quality, and how farm and landscape management practices can support these beneficial insects. I am also deeply concerned with the impacts of anthropogenic stressors on pollinator health and agricultural landscapes. My current research explores the effects of pesticide use and climate change on bee populations across different landscape contexts, aiming to understand and mitigate these negative impacts.

To address these issues I work with students, combining theory, spatial modeling, and field experiments, to co-produce findings that are actionable, inclusive, and novel. This research takes place in Sweden, California, and now the Northeast US. The overarching goal of my scholarship is to generate actionable insights that can inform conservation strategies, agricultural practices, and policy decisions to promote the co-management of biodiversity and ecosystem services in human-dominated landscapes. 

I joined �鶹ɫ��Ƭ at the start of 2025 and I am building my lab with exciting, student-led research projects. Please get in touch!

Courses Taught

 BIO 104L – Introduction to Evolution & Ecology Lab
 BIO 240 – Concepts of Ecology   
 ENVS 101 – Issues in Environmental Science
 ENVS 379 – Environmental GIS

Selected Publications

Nicholson, C. C. (2025). Out of site, out of mind? Considering pesticide drift and plant mutualisms. New Phytologist, 246(3)

Kendall, L., & Nicholson, C. C. (2025). Pollination Across the Diel Cycle: A Global Meta‐Analysis. Ecology Letters, 28(1), e70036.

Nicholson, C. C., Knapp, J., Kiljanek, T., Albrecht, M., Chauzat, M. P., Costa, C., ... & Rundlöf, M. (2024). Pesticide use negatively affects bumble bees across European landscapes. Nature, 628(8007), 355-358.

Lonsdorf, E. V., Nicholson, C. C., Rundlöf, M., & Williams, N. M. (2024). A spatially explicit model of landscape pesticide exposure to bees: development, exploration, and evaluation. Science of the Total Environment, 908, 168146.

Knapp, J., Nicholson, C., C., Jonsson, O., de Miranda, J., R., Rundlöf, M. (2023). Ecological traits interact with landscape context to determine bees’ pesticide risk. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 7(4), 547-556.

Page, M., =Nicholson, C. C., Brennan, R., Britzman, A., Crone, E., Hemberger J., Kahl, H., Müller, U., Peng, Y., Rosenberger, N., Stuligross, C., *Wang, L., Yang, L., Williams, N. M. (2021). A meta-analysis of single visit pollination effectiveness. American Journal of Botany, 108(11), 2196-2207.

Nicholson, C. C., & Egan, P. A. (2020). Natural hazard impacts on pollinators and pollination. Global Change Biology 26(2),&�Բ�����;1–12.

Nicholson, C. C., & Ricketts, T.H. (2019). Wild pollinators improve production, uniformity, and timing of blueberry crops. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 272, 29-37. 

Nicholson, C. C., Koh, I., Ricketts, T. H., Smith, H. G., Lonsdorf, E. V., & Olsson, O. (2019). Flowering resources distract pollinators from crops: Model predictions from landscape simulations. Journal of Applied Ecology, 56(3), 618-628.

Nicholson, C. C., Koh, I., Richardson, L. L., Beauchemin, A., & Ricketts, T. H. (2017). Farm and landscape factors interact to affect the supply of pollination services. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 250, 113-122.