Hamish Greig

Hamish Greig is an Associate Professor of Stream Ecology and Associate Director of the School of Biology and Ecology at the University of Maine, within the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture. His research and teaching are centered on freshwater ecosystems, with a strong emphasis on community ecology, environmental gradients, and global change. He divides his time equally between research (50%) and teaching, including courses on professionalism in biology and specialized seminars in ecology and environmental sciences.

His research program investigates how disturbances, environmental gradients, and climate change influence community structure and ecosystem function in aquatic systems. Key research themes include:

• How disturbances affect community dynamics
• How local stressors modify global change impacts
• Mechanisms underlying temperature effects on food webs

He employs observational studies, field manipulations, and mesocosm experiments across diverse ecosystems in Maine, New Zealand, the Colorado Rockies, and Greenland. His recent publications highlight work on tidal freshwater wetlands, disturbance frequency effects, and biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships at landscape scales.

His publications span high-impact journals such as Nature Geoscience, Ecology, Global Change Biology, and Freshwater Biology. The research consistently explores cross-cutting themes of climate change, trophic interactions, ecosystem function, and disturbance ecology.

Scientific recognition includes:

• Honourable mention, Best Publication by a New Researcher, New Zealand Ecological Society (2008)

Hamish Greig advises graduate students in the Ecology and Environmental Sciences Program. Notable advisees include Jess Haghkerdar, Jack McLachlan, and Alexis Ireland. His lab receives support from the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station (Hatch project ME022112), enabling field and experimental work. The research group is based at the University of Maine and contributes to both fundamental ecological understanding and applied environmental management.

The lab maintains active research in aquatic ecosystem ecology, with recent work focusing on tidal gradients, cumulative disturbance, and landscape-scale biodiversity experiments. The group integrates field and experimental approaches to reveal mechanisms behind ecological responses to environmental change.