Jacob Levine, Scholar In Residence  

Jacob Levine

I am a plant community ecologist interested in two key themes: (1) What are the mechanisms that maintain plant biodiversity in nature, and how will rapid climate change disrupt them? and (2) What are the primary drivers of wildfire severity, and how can we mitigate these risks through management? I approach these questions through a combination of mathematical theory development, field experiments, and large-scale observational analyses. By elucidating the fundamental forces that structure plant communities, my goal is to advance both our basic understanding of ecology and our ability to predict the fate of the biosphere in a warmer world.

I will be joining Duke Biology as an assistant professor in July 2026, and am actively recruiting postdocs and students to join my lab as early as August 2026. If you are interested in working with me, please get in touch via email.

Education:
Ph.D., Princeton University, 2024

Office Phone: (919) 660-7372
Email Address: jacob.levine@duke.edu
Web Page: http://levine-ecology.com

Recent Publications   (More Publications)   (search)

  1. Levine, JI; Collins, BM; Coppoletta, M; Stephens, SL, Extreme Weather Magnifies the Effects of Forest Structure on Wildfire, Driving Increased Severity in Industrial Forests., Global change biology, vol. 31 no. 8 (August, 2025), pp. e70400 [doi]  [abs].
  2. Levine, JI; Levine, JM; Pacala, SW, Trait diversity in plant communities maintained by competition for water and light, Ecological Monographs, vol. 95 no. 1 (February, 2025) [doi]  [abs].
  3. Levine, JI; An, R; Kraft, NJB; Pacala, SW; Levine, JM, Why ecologists struggle to predict coexistence from functional traits., Trends in ecology & evolution, vol. 40 no. 2 (February, 2025), pp. 147-158 [doi]  [abs].
  4. Levine, JI; Pacala, SW; Levine, JM, Competition for time: Evidence for an overlooked, diversity-maintaining competitive mechanism., Ecology letters, vol. 27 no. 3 (March, 2024), pp. e14422 [doi]  [abs].
  5. Block, S; Maechler, M-J; Levine, JI; Alexander, JM; Pellissier, L; Levine, JM, Ecological lags govern the pace and outcome of plant community responses to 21st-century climate change., Ecology letters, vol. 25 no. 10 (October, 2022), pp. 2156-2166 [doi]  [abs].