Beth Lawrence

Assistant Professor

Department of Natural Resources and the Environment


Beth is a plant ecologist interested in the consequences of anthropogenic stressors (eg: invasive plants, nutrient loading, sea-level rise, deicing salts) on community composition and ecosystem function. She primarily works in wetlands, where she examines the consequences of invasion and management activities on community structure, nutrient and carbon cycling. She is particularly interested in how different plant communities influence ecosystem function and how we can manipulate species composition during restoration to promote diverse, functional communities.  She is committed to finding sustainable solutions to improve natural resource management.

Beth received a BS in Natural Resources from Cornell University in 2001, a MS in Botany and Plant Pathology from Oregon State University in 2005, and completed her PhD in 2011 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Botany Department.  She was a post-doctoral researcher at Loyola University Chicago during 2011-12, and was an Assistant Professor at DePaul University from 2012-2015 in the Dept. of Environmental Science & Studies.  She joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut in 2016; she has a joint appointment in Natural Resources & the Environment and the Center for Environmental Science & Engineering.