Sarah R. Supp
Associate Professor
Biography
I am an ecologist who uses data analytics techniques to study biodiversity in a changing world. I’m really excited to be a part of the interdisciplinary Data Analytics Program, which represents an emerging field and a set of tools that is increasingly important for success across career paths. As it becomes easier to quickly collect large amounts of data or gain access to complex datasets, a solid foundation in data and computational literacy is needed solve the important problems of our time. At Denison University, my goal is to work together with students to foster creative and critical thought through hands-on learning and research, to become effective communicators and problem-solvers. I teach core courses in the Data Analytics Program, and conduct data-driven ecological research on biodiversity, avian migration, and long-term trends in ecological communities. If you are curious about these things, we should chat! Outside of Denison, I enjoy chasing my kiddos around outdoors, making music, playing board games with friends, and traveling to new and faraway places.
Degree(s)
B.S., Valparaiso University; Ph.D., Utah State University
Learning & Teaching
Courses
- DA 101: Introduction to Data Analytics
- DA 200: Data Analytics Colloquium
- DA 245: Special Topics, Theory and Practice of Data Visualization
- DA 301: Practicum in Data Analytics
- DA 401: Seminar in Data Analytics
Research
biodiversity change; macroecology; long-term community ecology; hummingbird migration; teaching programming; data sharing
Details
My research is motivated by the question: how do perturbations drive fundamental change in taxonomic and functional diversity across ecological scales? I am especially interested in understanding how changes observed at one level of organization (e.g., organism) scale up to impact other levels of organization (e.g., community diversity, ecosystem function). In this work, I combine local-scale field observation and experimental data with the analysis of large continent- and global-span datasets and computational approaches. If you’re interested in how the intersections of programming, math, and ecology can be used to explore biodiversity patterns, please contact me via email or twitter.
Works
Publications
- Emery, N.C., E. Crispo, S.R. Supp, A.J. Kerkhoff, K.J. Farrell, E.K. Bledsoe, K.L. O’Donnell, A.C. McCall, and M. Aiello-Lammens. 2021. Training data: How can we best prepare instructors to teach data science in undergraduate biology and environmental science courses? BioRxiv preprint. doi: 10.1101/2021.01.25.428169
- Daskalova, G.N., I.H. Myers-Smith, A.D. Bjorkman, S.A. Blowes, S.R. Supp, A.E. Magurran, M. Dornelas. 2020. Landscape scale forest loss as a catalyst of population and biodiversity change. Science. 368(6497) 1341-1347. doi: 10.1126/science.aba1289
- Antao, L.H., A.E. Bates, S.A. Blowes C. Waldock, S.R. Supp, A.E. Magurran, M. Dornelas, A.M. Schipper. 2020. Temperature-related biodiversity change across temperate marine and terrestrial systems. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 4: 927-933 doi: 10.1038/s41559-020-1185-7
- Bowler, D.E. , A. Bjorkman, L. Navarro, A. Niamir, C. Waldock, M. Dornelas, M.I. O’Connor, S.R. Supp, K. Bohning-Gaese, H. Bruelheide, R. Elahi, L. Henriques Antao, J. Hines, F. Isbell, H. Jones, A. Magurran, J. Sarmento Cabral, M. Winter, M. Vellend, A.E. Bates. 2020. Mapping human pressures on biodiversity across the planet uncovers anthropogenic threat complexes. People and Nature. doi: 10.1002/pan3.10071
- Blowes, S.A.* and Supp, S.R.*, L. Antao, A.E. Bates, H. Bruelheide, J.M. Chase, F. Moyes, A.E. Magurran, B.J. McGill, I.H. Myers-Smith, M. Winter, A. Bjorkman, D. Bowler, J.E.K. Byrnes, A. Gonzalez, J. Hines, F. Isbell, H.P. Jones, L.M. Navarro, P.L. Thompson, M. Vellend, C. Waldock, and M. Dornelas. 2019. The comparative strength of biodiversity trends in marine and terrestrial assemblages. Science. doi: 10.1126/science.aaw1620 *shared first authorship
- Chase, J.M.*, B.J. McGill*, P.L. Thompson, L.H. Antao, A.E. Bates, S.A. Blowes, M. Dornelas, A. Gonzalez, A.E. Magurran, S.R. Supp, M. Winter, A.D. Bjorkman, H. Bruelheide, J.E.K. Byrnes, J.S. Cabral, R. Elahi, C. Gomez, H. Guzman, F. Isbell, I.H. Myers-Smith, H.P. Jones, J. Hines, M. Vellend, C. Waldock, M. O’Connor. 2019. Species richness change across spatial scales. Oikos. doi: 10.111/oik.05968 *shared first authorship
- Yenni, G.M., E.M. Christensen, E.K. Bledsoe, S.R. Supp, R.M. Diaz, E.P. White, and S.K.M. Ernest. 2019. Developing a modern data workflow for living data. PLOS Biology. 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000125
- Dornelas, M., and BioTIME consortium (200+ authors). 2018. BioTIME: a database of biodiversity time-series for the Anthropocene. Global Ecology and Biogeography. data paper. 10.1111/geb.12729
- Ernest, S.K.M., G.M. Yenni, G. Allington, E.K. Bledsoe, E.M. Christensen, R.M. Diaz, J.R. Goheen, Q. Guo, E. Heske, D. Kelt, J.M. Meiners, J. Munger, C. Restrepo, D.A. Samson, M.R. Schutzenhofer, M. Skupski, S.R. Supp, K. Thibault, S. Taylor, E.P. White, D.W. Davidson, J.H. Brown, and T.J. Valone. 2018. The Portal Project: A long-term study of a Chihuahuan desert ecosystem. bioRxiv. 10.1101/332783| web
- Bannar-Martin, K.B., C. Kremer, S.K.M. Ernest, M.A. Leibold, H. Auge, J. Chase, S. Declerck, N. Eisenhauer, S. Harpole, H. Hillebrand, F. Isbell, T. Koffel, S. Larsen, A. Narwani, J.S. Petermann, C. Roscher, J. Sarmento Cabral, S.R. Supp. 2017. Community Assembly and the Functioning of Ecosystems: integrating community assembly and biodiversity to better understand ecosystem function. Ecology Letters. doi: 10.11111/ele12895
- Graham, L.J., B.G. Weinstein, S.R. Supp, and C.H. Graham. 2017. Future geographic patterns of novel and disappearing assemblages across three dimensions of diversity: A case study with Ecuadorian hummingbirds. Diversity and Distributions. doi: 10.1111/ddi.12587
- Hampton. S.E., M.B. Jones, L.A. Wasser, M.A. Schildauer, S.R. Supp, J. Brun, R.R. Hernandez, C. Boettiger, S.L. Collins, L.J. Gross, D.S. Fernandez, A. Budden, E.P. White, T.K. Teal, S. Labou, J.E. Aukema, J. Regetz . 2017. Skills and knowledge for data-intensive environmental research. BioScience. 67: 546-557. doi: 10.1093/biosci/bix025
- Graham, C.H., S. R. Supp, D.R. Powers, P.A. Beck, M.C.W. Lim, A. Shankar, T.A. Cormier, S.J. Goetz, and S. Wethington. 2016. Winter conditions influence biological response of migrating humingbirds. Ecosphere. doi: 10.1002/ecs2.1470
- Ernest, S.K.M., G.M. Yenni, G. Allington, E.M. Christensen, K. Geluso, J.R. Goheen, M.R. Schutzenhofer, S.R. Supp, K.M. Thibault, J.H. Brown, T.J. Valone. 2016. Long-term monitoring and experimental manipulation of a Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem near Portal, Arizona, USA (1977-2013). Ecology. doi:10.1890/15-2115.1
- Supp, S. R., D. N. Koons, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. Using life history trade-offs to understand core-transient structuring of a small mammal community. Ecosphere. 6: art187. doi: 10.1890/ES15-00239.1
- Supp, S. R., F.A. La Sorte, T.A. Cormier, M.C.W. Lim, D.R. Powers, S.M. Wethington, S.J. Goetz, and C.H. Graham. 2015. Citizen-science data provides new insight into annual and seasonal variation in migration patterns. Ecosphere 6: art15. doi: 10.1890/ES14-00290.1
- Supp, S. R. and S. K. M. Ernest. 2014. Species-level and community-level responses to disturbance: a cross-community analysis. Ecology 95: 1717-1723.
- White, E. P., E. M. Baldridge, Z. T. Brym, K. J. Locey, D. J. McGlinn, and S. R. Supp. 2013. Nine simple ways to make it easier to (re)use your data. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution. 6: 1-10.
- Supp, S. R. 2013. Local and regional drivers of biodiversity: from life-history traits to system-level properties. Graduate Dissertation. Utah State University. http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/1503
- Supp, S. R., X. Xiao, S. K. M. Ernest, and E. P. White. 2012. An experimental test of the response of macroecological patterns to altered species interactions. Ecology. 93: 2505-2511.
- Cobbold, S. M. and S. R. Supp. 2012. Patch shape alters spider community structure: links between microhabitat choice and sensitivity to increased edge habitat. Journal of Insect Conservation. 4: 581-589.
- Thibault, K. M., S. R. Supp, M. Giffin, E. P. White and S. K. M. Ernest. 2011. Species composition and abundance of mammalian communities. Ecology. 92: 2316.
- Supp, S. R. and E.P. White. 2010. Measures of journal quality should separate reviews from original research. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution. 3: 16-19.
- O’Donnell, R. S.R. Supp and S. M. Cobbold. 2010. Hindrance of conservation biology by delays in the submission of manuscripts. Conservation Biology. 24: 615-620.
- Shaw, A.K., D.E. Stanton, S.R. Supp, A. Budden, S. Eby, P.L. Reynolds, R. Salguero-Gómez, D.R. Scholes, and N.B. Zimmerman. 2015. Ecology postdocs in academia: primary concerns and possible solutions. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 96: 140-152.
- Scholes, D.R., D.E. Stanton, and S.R. Supp. 2014. ESA’s Early Career Ecologist Section: Supporting the professional development of early career ecologists in all career trajectories. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 95: 435-438.
Service
Professional Memberships
- Licking County Coalition for Housing
- Women in Analytics
- Ecological Society of America
- International Biogeography Society
- NSF INCLUDES Ecology and Data Science Inclusion Network
- Biological and Environmental Data Education Network
- The Carpentries
Other
Grants & Funding
- The importance of spatial scale for understanding range- and niche-limits. 2019-2022. National Science Foundation DEB-1915913 Collaborative Multi-institution Grant, PI with D. Ward, O.J. Rocha (Kent State University), J.S. Medeiros (Holden Arboretum), and G. Bohrer (Ohio State University). $914,000
- Biological and Environmental Data Education (BEDE) Network. Research Coordination Network-Undergraduate Biology Education Incubator. 2018-2019. National Science Foundation. co-PI with Drew Kerkhoff, Susy Escheverria-Lodono (Kenyon College), and Matthew Aiello-Lammens (Pace University). $72,000
Honors & Awards
- Bartlett Family Pre-Tenure Fellow (2020-2021)
Student Collaborations
- Using crowd-sourced eBird data to infer migration and occurrence patterns of potential avian seed dispersers to invasive eastern red cedar trees in the United States. Jessy Jiahui Niu. Spring, Summer, and Fall 2020.
- Long-term butterfly diversity in an ecological restoration project at The Wilds, Cumberland, OH. Francis Biagioli, Jonas Nielsen, and Kymani Senior. Spring 2019
