Jennie R McLaren

Jennie R McLaren serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), conducting research at the intersection of community and ecosystem ecology. Her work focuses on northern ecosystems including Arctic tundra (Utqiagvik, Toolik Lake, Nome) and boreal forests in Alaska/Canada, alongside dryland studies in the Chihuahuan Desert of the Southwestern USA.

Her research program investigates how environmental change, herbivore dynamics, and land management practices alter plant community composition and subsequently impact ecosystem functioning. Key areas include nutrient cycling responses to warming, litter decomposition mechanisms, carbon storage dynamics, and biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships. She employs long-term field experiments, molecular techniques, and collaborative networks like the Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program to address climate change impacts across multiple spatial and temporal scales.

Recent publications reveal strong emphasis on Arctic soil biogeochemistry under permafrost thaw, with significant attention to small mammal ecosystem engineering, shrub encroachment effects, and dryland carbon dynamics. Her work integrates experimental manipulations with molecular characterization to uncover mechanisms driving ecosystem responses to global change.

Dr. McLaren actively recruits graduate students to her laboratory and has secured substantial external funding, including an NSF Arctic Research grant ($621,000) and participation in UTEP's $5 million NSF award for dryland surface studies. She maintains extensive field operations across Arctic research stations and Chihuahuan Desert sites.

Her laboratory contributes to the Arctic LTER network with recent focus on advancing inclusion and equity in polar science. Current fieldwork examines small mammal structure impacts on soil thermal regimes near Toolik Lake, while desert restoration projects investigate soil carbon indicators for grassland recovery in the Chihuahuan Desert.