Kimberly Sheldon

Kimberly Sheldon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research focuses on biogeography, physiological ecology, and tropical ecology with an emphasis on climate change impacts, conservation biology, and natural history. She leads the Biogeography Research Lab (http://www.biogeographyresearch.org/) and holds affiliations at 569 Dabney Hall, Knoxville.

Education: PhD in 2011 from the University of Washington. Research spans tropical and temperate ecosystems using latitudinal/elevational gradients to study ecological and evolutionary processes. Key emphases include: biogeographic pattern formation, climate change predictions for biodiversity, and natural history documentation.

Recent work examines temperature seasonality effects on species' range limits, climate-driven community disassembly, and dung beetle physiology under warming scenarios. Over 50 peer-reviewed articles address topics like thermal tolerance, elevation-climate interactions, and conservation strategies. No awards explicitly listed, though her work aligns with major ecological conservation goals.

Lab activities involve fieldwork in montane and tropical regions, experimental climate manipulations, and genomic analyses. Collaborations with institutions like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Costa Rican research stations underpin her work. Current projects explore functional trait frameworks for dung beetles and microbial biogeography applications.