Amber (Amy) Churchill

Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Science

Environmental Studies Program

Background

Amy Churchill is a plant ecologist conducting research on the consequences of global environmental change at the interface of plant communities and ecosystem ecology, with experience in a range of biomes and ecosystem types. Her research examines both broad patterns of ecosystem responses to global change, as well as mechanisms for how plant communities may confer stabilizing or amplifying feedback, thereby impacting ecosystem responses to environmental change.

Current projects include examining three main themes:

Drivers of plant community and ecosystem resistance and recovery in the face of global change
Shifts in plant-plant resource interactions and impacts on ecosystem function
Seasonal community dynamics and consequences for ecosystem services under global change.

Recent publications

Isbell, F., Mori, A. S., Loreau, M., Reich, P. B., Tilman, D., Anderson, M. I., Brophy, C., Castillioni, K., Chen, Q., Churchill, A. C., Clark, A. T., Craven, D., Eisenhauer, N., Farah, H. C., Gherardi, L. A., Hautier, Y., He, M., He, J. -S., Hector, A., Hedberg, S., Hobbie, S., Hong, P., Liang, G., Liang, M., Luo, S., Mohanbabu, N., Naeem, S., Niklaus, P. A., Pan, X., Portales-Reyes, C., Schmid, B., Shepard, H. E. R., Varghese, S. L., Veldhuis, M. P., Wang, S., Watkins, C. R. E., Xu, Q., Zheng, L., Zirbel, C. R. 2026. Predicting temporal stability and resilience from resistance and recovery. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10498-4
Ohlert, T. Smith, M., Collins, S., Knapp, A., Dukes, J.S., Munson, S., Anderson M., Avolio, M., Chen, A., Hayden, M., Holdrege, M.C., Sala, O., Slette, I., Wilfahrt, P., Wilkins, K., Beier, C., Fraser, L., Jentsch, A., Loik, M., Luo, Y., Maestre, F., Philips, R., Power, S.A., Yahdjian, L., Yu, Q., Chen, A., Felton, A., Gherardi, L., Lyon, N., Abdoli, H., Abedi, M., Alberti, J., Arroyo, A., Asbjornsen, H., Auge, H., Bachle, S., Bahn, M., Bartholomew, D., Bathaatar, A., Bauerle, T., Beard, K., Behn, K., Beil, I., Biancari, L., Blindow, I., Bondaruk, V., Borer, E., Bork, E., Bruschetti, C., Byrne, K.M., Cahill, J., Calvo, D., Carbognani, M., Carlyle, C., Castillioni, K., Castillo-Garcia, M., Chandregowda, M., Chang, S., Chieppa, Churchill, A.C., Cianciaruso, M., Cordeiro, A., Cousins, S., Cusack, D., Dahlke, S., Dietterich, L., Dubbert, M., Eisenhauer, N., Forte, T., Funk, F., Cabrera Darcy, G., Greenville, A., Haugum, S., Hautier, Y., Hector, A., Henry, H., Hoss, D., Isbell, F., Jordan, S., Ke, Y., Kelly, E., Koerner, S., Kreyling, J., Kropfl, A., Kubert, A., Kulmatiski, A., Lamb, E., Larsen, K., Lee, S., Limbu, S., Linstadter, A., Liu, S. Longo, G. Loydi, A., Luan, J., Lubbe, F.C., Maylshev, A., McIntire, C., Metcalfe, D., Mokoka, M., Mori, A., Mudongo, E., Newman, G., Nielsen, U. Ochoa-Hueso, R., O’Connor, R., Ogaya, R., Onatibia, G., Osborne, B., Oftnowski, R., Partel, M. Pascual, J., Penuelas, J., Peri, P., Pescador, D., Peter, G., Petraglia, A., Picon-Cochard, C., illar, V., Pineiro-Guerra, J., Ploughe, L., Plowes, R., Portales-Reyes, C., Prober, S., Pueyo, Y., Rahmati, G., Reed, S., Rodriguez, D., Rogers, W., Roscher, C., Rowley, D., Sanchez, A., Santos, B., Schellenberg, M., Scherer-Lorenzen, M., Seabloom, E., Shen, R., Shi, B., Souza, L., Stampfli, A., Standish, R., Sternberg, M., Sun, W., Snnemann, M., Tedder, M. Terry, M., Thorvaldsen, P., Tielborger, K., Tissink, M., Vadeboncoeur, M., Valdecantos, A., ca den Brink, L., Vandvik, V., Velle, L., Wanke, S., Wardle, G., Wei, C., Werner, C., Wiehl, G., Williams, J., Wolf, A., Xu, C., Yang, X., Yost, J., Young, A., Yue, P., Zeberio, J., Zeiter, M., Zhu, J., Zuo, X. 2025. Drought severity interacts with duration to erode ecosystem resistance. Science. 390(6770):284-289. DOI:10.1126/science.ads8144
Bondaruk, V.F., Xu, C., Wilfahrt, P., Yahdjian, L., Yu, Q., Alberti, J., An, H., Auge, H., Biancari, L., Borer, E.T., Carbognani, M., Chandrewgowda, M., Churchill, A.C., Daleo, P., Diao, H., Dieguez, H., Eisenhauer, N., Forte, T., Greenville, A., Gutknecht, J., Isbell, F., Jentsch, A., Ke, Y., Koerner, S.E., Kubert, A., Maziko, Y., Ohlert, T., Onatibia, G., Peri, P., Petraglia, A., Power, S.A., Salesa, D., Seabloom, E., Smith, M., Tedder, M., Tian, D., Tissue, D., Valdecantos, A., Verhoeven, E., Wanke, S., Wardle, G., Wei, C., Werner, C., Wheeler, G., Wilkins, K., Young, A., Zhang, F., Zhu, J., Zong, N., Zuo, X, Hautier, Y. 2025. Aridity modulates grassland biomass responses to combined drought and nutrient addition. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 9: 937-946. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02705-826.
Shi, B., Delgado-Baquerizo, M., Knapp, A.K., Smith, M.D., Reed, S., Osborne, B., Maestre, F.T., Zhu, Y., Chen, A., Wilkins, K., Holdrege, M.C., Kulmatiski, A., Picon-Cochard, C., Roscher, C., Power, S.A., Byrne, K.M., Churchill, A.C., Jentsch, A., Henry, H.A.L., Beard, K.H., Schuchardt, M.A., Eisenhauer, N., Oftinowski, R., Hautier, Y., Shen, H., Wang, Y., Wang, Z., Wang, C., Francis Cusack, D., Petraglia, A., Carbognani, M., Forte, T.G.W., Flory, S.L., Hou, P., Zhang, T., Gao, W., Sun, W. 2024. Aridity drives the response of soil particulate and mineral-associated carbon to drought worldwide. Science Advances. 10(40): eadq2654. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adq2654
Churchill, A.C., Zhang, H., Catunda, K.L.M., Kim, G.W., Anderson, I.C., Isbell, F.I., Moore, B.D., Pendall, E., Plett, J.M., Powell, J.R., Power, S.A. 2024. Nutrient resource partitioning between tropical legume-grass mixed swards conditionally weakens under elevated CO₂. Functional Ecology. 38(8): 1708-1725. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.14595; Data DOI: 10.5061/dryad.nk98sf7ww

Education

PhD: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2017
MS: Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Institute of Arctic Biology, 2011
BS/BA: Biology and Environmental Studies, Stonehill College, Massachusetts, 2008

Research Interests

Plant ecology and plant-ecosystem feedbacks
Community-level interactions in plants and impacts on ecosystems
Plant-pollinator interactions under global change
Forage and mixed pasture ecosystem resilience
Global changes as drivers of ecosystem function and services

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