Diane Srivastava

Dr. Diane Srivastava is a Professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Science, and Director of the Canadian Institute of Ecology and Evolution (CIEE). Her research focuses on community ecology, particularly biodiversity's role in ecosystem functioning and responses to environmental changes.

Her work addresses how trophic diversity influences ecosystem processes, the regional species pool's impact on local diversity, habitat effects on species richness, and human-driven changes. She leads the Living Data Project, preserving legacy environmental datasets through collaborations with early-career researchers.

Key research areas include tropical ecosystem dynamics, climate change impacts, and functional trait-based community assembly. Recent studies highlight cross-ecosystem interactions (e.g., bromeliad microcosms), predator-prey dynamics under climate variability, and urban biodiversity patterns. Her work spans field experiments and collaborative data science initiatives.

Dr. Srivastava’s projects emphasize global ecological challenges, including biodiversity loss mitigation and climate resilience strategies. She actively promotes equitable academic practices, such as triple-blind peer review and inclusive working groups.

She directs the CIEE, fostering collaborative research across ecology and evolutionary biology. Her work is supported by UBC’s Biodiversity Research Centre and involves international field sites in tropical regions like Costa Rica and Trinidad.