Forest Ecologist, Leader of CTFS-ForestGEO Ecosystems & Climate Initiative
B.S. Wheaton College; Ph.D., University of New Mexico
Kristina Anderson-Teixeira is a forest ecologist at the Smithsonian's Conservation Biology Institute's (SCBI) Conservation Ecology Center and at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Center for Tropical Forest Science. She leads the ecosystems and climate research initiative for the Center for Tropical Forest Science - Forest Global Earth Observatory (CTFS-ForestGEO), which is the world's only forest monitoring network making standardized measurements in all the world's major forest biomes. Her research focuses on interactions of forest ecosystems worldwide with Earth’s changing climate.
Along with collaborators at the Smithsonian and around the world, Anderson-Teixeira’s research shows how forests worldwide are responding to climate change and other anthropogenic pressures. Highlights include findings that larger trees suffer more during drought and that climate change alters forest recovery following disturbances such as fires. She has also conducted pioneering work on quantifying the climate regulation services of ecosystems, showing that clearing just 100 square feet of forest has roughly the same effect on climate as driving across the U.S.
Anderson-Teixeira earned her Bachelor of Science in biology from Wheaton College in 2002, and her doctorate from the University of New Mexico in 2007, where she studied under James H. Brown. She conducted postdoctoral research with Marcy E. Litvak at the University of New Mexico from 2007-2008, and with Evan H. DeLucia at the University of Illinois from 2008-2012. In 2012, she moved to her current position at the Smithsonian.
Anderson-Teixeira’s work is motivated by her recognition that forests are invaluable for both biodiversity protection and climate regulation. She hopes that her research will serve to better understand and protect forests in the current era of global change.
