Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
University of Michigan (2018-2023)
Dissertation Title: Entangling ecology: Integrating mechanistic theories of food webs and mutualistic networks to understand function and dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems

M.Sc. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
University of Arizona (2015-2018)

B.S. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
B.S. in Mathematics
University of Kansas (2011-2015)

National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (NSF PRFB)
Competitive Area: Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes
Research Title: Consequences of variation across scales: Bioenergetics and behavior from phenotypes to ecosystems
$240,000 USD

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Program (NSF GRFP)
Competitive Area: Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes
Research Title: Extending food webs to include non-trophic interactions for more comprehensive ecosystem modeling
$120,000 USD + tuition waivers

FACE Foundation Thomas Jefferson Fund
Travel for emerging collaborations between young French and American researchers
Research Title: Predicting responses of ecological networks to anthropogenic perturbations
Co-PIs: Fernanda Valdovinos & Elisa Thébault 
€20,000

ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation
Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan (Nominated 2024)

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor
Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan (2023)

Outstanding Research Mentor
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, University of Michigan (Nominated 2021, Awarded 2022)

Volterra Award for Best Student Talk in Theoretical Ecology
Ecological Society of America Meeting (2018) 
Title: Mutualism in food webs: Persistent pollinators facilitate positive diversity-stability relationships 

PEER-REVIEWED

1. Ward, C., Tunney, T., Donohue, I., Bieg, C., Hale, K. R. S., McMeans, B., Moore, J., & McCann, K. S. (2025). Global change asymmetrically rewires ecosystems. Ecology Letters 28(7): e70174. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70174
2. Hale, K. R. S., Curlis, J. D., Auteri, G. G., Bishop, S., French, R. L. K., Jones, L. E., Mills, K. L., Scholtens, B. G., Simons, M., Thompson, C., Tourville, J., & Valdovinos, F. S. (2024). A highly resolved network reveals the role of terrestrial herbivory in structuring aboveground food webs. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2023.0180
3. Narayanan, N., Hale, K. R. S., Koffel, T., & McPeek, S. (2023). Theoretical advances in the ecology and evolution of mutualistic interactions – Review of a symposium (SYMP 14) organised at ESA+CSEE 2022 joint meeting. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 104(2): e02057. https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.2057 
4. Valdovinos, F. S., Hale, K. R. S., Dritz, S., Glaum, P. R., McCann, K. S., Simon, S. M., Thébault, E., Wetzel, W. C., Wootton, K. L., & Yeakel, J. D. (2023) A bioenergetic framework for aboveground terrestrial food webs. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 38:301– 312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.11.004  
5. Hale, K. R. S., Maes, D.P., & Valdovinos, F. S. (2022). Simple mechanisms of plant reproductive benefits yield different dynamics in pollination and seed dispersal mutualisms. American Naturalist 200(2):202–216. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.05.442848  
6. Hale, K. R. S. & Valdovinos, F. S. (2021). Ecological theory of mutualism: Robust patterns of stability and thresholds in two-species population models. Ecology and Evolution 11:17651–17671. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8453  
7. Hale, K. R. S., Valdovinos, F. S., & Martinez, N. D. (2020). Mutualism increases diversity, stability, and function of multiplex networks that integrate pollinators into food webs. Nature Communications 11:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15688-w
8. Becklin, K. M., Medeiros, J. S., Sale, K. R., Ward, J. K. (2014). Evolutionary history underlies plant physiological responses to global change since the last glacial maximum. Ecology Letters 17:691-699. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12271 

SUBMITTED

14. Hale, K. R. S., Fernandes, T. J., O’Connor, R. F., Ward, C. A., Cazelles, K., Bernhardt, J. A., Chu, C., Giacomini, H. C., Koeberle, A. L., Koops, M. A., Ludsin, S. A., Muir, A. M., Stewart, T., Tucker, C., Tunney, T. D., & McCann, K. S. (in review). Managing for resilience through ecological structure: Insights from the Great Lakes Basin. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Contributed data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28304093
15. Fernandes, T. J.,* & Hale, K. R. S.,* McMeans, B. C., Tunney, T. D., & McCann, K. S. (in review). Trophic hotspots as focal points for ecosystem management. Nature Ecology & Evolution.
16. Ward, C., Tunney, T., O’Connor, R. F., Hale, K. R. S., & McCann, K. S. (in review). The rewiring of ecological networks in a variable world. Nature Reviews Biodiversity.
17. Fernandes, T. J., Hale, K. R. S., Studden, B. M., Steeves, R., Pereira, S., Armstrong, J. B., McCann, K. S., Middel, T., Ridgway, M., Shuter, B., Tunney, T. D., & McMeans, B. C. (in review). Fish spawning events stimulate trophic hotspots across freshwater food webs. Science Advances. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.30.679526
18. O’Connor, R. F., Hale, K. R. S., Guzzo, M. M., Humphries, M. M., Rooney, N., & McCann, K. S. (in review). Interaction strength and stability across the slow-fast continuum. Nature.
19. Hale, K. R. S., Thébault, E., & Valdovinos, F. S. (in revision). A general trait-based model for multiplex ecological networks. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.08.08.552546

* shared first authorship

GRADUATE STUDENT INSTRUCTOR

BIO 171 Intro Biology: Ecology & Evolution, University of Michigan
Lecture Administrator (F2022), Mentor to Other Instructors (F2022), Discussion Instructor (F2018, F2021)

CMPLXSYS 435 Ecological Networks, University of Michigan
Lab Instructor (W2019, W2020)

Application Support Program
Editor, Graduate College, University of Arizona (2016–2018)

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

CMPLXSYS 435 Ecological Networks, University of Michigan
Mathematical & Computational Labs (including interactive MATLAB notebooks)

GRADING & GUEST LECTURES

Mini-Course, Coastal Marine Research Station (ECIM), Chile
Guest Lecture & Lab (2023)

ECOL 480 Math Models in Biology, University of Arizona
Grading, Office Hours, & Guest Lectures (S2016, S2017, S2018)

MATH 141 Honors Calculus I, MATH 290 Elementary Linear Algebra, MATH 500 Intermediate Analysis, MATH 558 Intro Modern Algebra, University of Kansas
Grading (2013-2015)

PEER-REVIEW

The American Naturalist
Biological Invasions
Ecography
Ecology
Ecology Letters
Functional Ecology
Journal of Animal Ecology
Journal of Applied Ecology
Journal of Theoretical Biology
Nature Ecology & Evolution
Theoretical Population Biology 
Theory in Biosciences
Web Ecology

MENTORSHIP

Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) & Community College Summer Fellowship Program (CCSFP), University of Michigan
9 students, 2019–2024

Big Sib for Incoming Graduate Students, University of Michigan
4 students, 2019–2023

Ask the Women of Tucson (AskWOT), community art project & mentorship program
Co-founder & High School Outreach Director, 2016-2018

Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD), University of Kansas & Haskell Indian Nations University
Member & Peer Mentor, 2012-2015

British Ecological Society Annual Meeting, Liverpool (2024)
Dynamical Ecological Networks Symposium
“Dynamic food provisioning by terrestrial plants supports animal diversity in food webs with mutualisms”

NetSci International School and Conference on Network Science, Vienna (2023)
Multi-interaction Socio-ecological Networks Satellite Symposium
“Mutualism increases diversity, stability, and function of multiplex networks that integrate pollinators into food webs”

Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris, Paris (2023)
“Modeling aboveground terrestrial food webs: resolving plant-insect interactions”

Ecological Society of America + Canadian Society for Ecology & Evolution Joint Meeting, Montreal (2022)
Theories of Mutualism Symposium
“Robust patterns of stability and thresholds in population dynamics of mutualisms”

Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, New Orleans (2018)
Predictive Network Ecology: Mutualism, Evolution and Ecosystem Services
“Mutualism in food webs: Persistent pollinators facilitate positive diversity-stability relationships”

Oct 20-24, 2025 (organizer)

“Macroecology of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, fast and slow from traits to food webs”
Centre for Ecosystem Management, University of Guelph

Semi-annual since Dec 2024 (co-organizer)

“Rewired Great Lakes Food Webs: Implications for fish production and resilience”
Centre for Ecosystem Management, University of Guelph
Food Web Alliance: Scientists affiliated with bi-national (US-Canada) management agencies, including the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC), Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

Sept 16–20, 2024 (participant)

“Interdisciplinary approaches for the sustainable development and conservation of marine ecosystems in Chile, California, and South Africa”
Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis

Apr 24–25, 2024 (co-organizer)

“Managing for resilience in the Great Lakes”
Centre for Ecosystem Management, University of Guelph

Jan 9-10, 2024 (participant)

“Structural early warning signs and bioindicators for global change rewiring”
Centre for Ecosystem Management, University of Guelph

May 29-Jun 2, 2023 (participant)

“Ecological consequences of diminishing winters”
Centre for Ecosystem Management, University of Guelph

Jan 3-7, 2023 (participant)

“Interdisciplinary approaches for the sustainable development and conservation of marine ecosystems in Chile and California”
Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas (ECIM), Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile

Apr 11-13, 2022 (organizer)

“Extending the Allometric Trophic Network (ATN) model to terrestrial food webs”
University of California, Davis