Aramee Diethelm, Ph.D

I am an ecologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Davis in the Department of Evolution and Ecology, where my work connects field science to real-world land management decisions.My current research leads a multi-state monitoring network studying western monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) breeding ecology across state and federal lands across the West.This involves designing and implementing standardized field survey protocols, tracking larval host plant (milkweed; Asclepias) species composition and phenology, documenting immature monarch life stages across the breeding season, and managing large datasets across institutions. These findings are shared land managers to improve how federal lands are managed for this threatened species of butterfly.

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I am a former PhD student and NSF Fellow at the University of Nevada, Reno in the Pringle lab studying plant-insect interactions. My dissertation research examined how drought and herbivory reshape milkweed chemistry across environmental gradients, and what those shifts mean for immature monarchs and the predator communities around them.

Outside of research, I have mentored 15 undergraduate researchers, taught and coordinated biology courses at UNR, and engaged broadly with public audiences through museum outreach, community science talks, volunteer habitat restoration activities, and conservation education in nontraditional settings.