Amy Trowbridge

Amy Trowbridge is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on plant-insect interactions under environmental change, particularly how climate factors influence tree defensive strategies and ecosystem processes. She holds a Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a B.S. in Integrative Biology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Her work integrates field and lab experiments with advanced techniques like stable isotopes and '-omics' tools to study carbon allocation, chemical defense mechanisms, and pest/pathogen success. Key interests include drought impacts on tree metabolism, trade-offs between tree traits under stress, and microbiome effects on plant defenses. She leads the Trowbridge Lab, which combines molecular biology with ecosystem-scale observations to address global change challenges.

Recent projects involve analyzing data from the 2022-2023 Game Ridge field experiments in Montana, exploring carbon dynamics in drought-stressed pines, and developing remote sensing methods to detect invasive species. Her research has been featured in high-impact journals across ecology, forestry, and environmental science.

Grant activities include collaborative NSF-funded projects on plant defense budgets and biodiversity drivers. She emphasizes interdisciplinary training for students, with current projects focusing on spectroscopy applications and climate-driven pest outbreaks.