Nancy Nicolai

Nancy Nicolai is an Adjunct Assistant Professor affiliated with the University of New Mexico (UNM). Her research focuses on ecosystem sustainability influenced by biotic interactions, particularly plant-animal dynamics in arid environments.

• Ph.D. in Rangeland Ecology, Texas A&M University (2005)

Her work investigates how animal-driven soil engineering and seed consumption (granivory) sustain grassland communities across landscape scales. At the Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, she studies the interacting effects of fire and mound-building animals like harvester ants and kangaroo rats. She employs field experiments, simulation modeling, and spatial statistics in her research.