Liza Comita, assistant professor of tropical forest ecology in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, has been selected to receive the Founders’ Prize from the British Ecological Society, the oldest ecological society in the world. Dr. Comita will be honored at a joint meeting of the British Ecological Society and three other European societies in Ghent, Belgium, this December.
The Founders’ Award recognizes “an outstanding early career ecologist who is starting to make a significant contribution to the science of ecology.” Dr. Comita’s research focuses on the ecology of tropical tree species, specifically how spatial and temporal variation in survival at early life-stages affects diversity and abundance of species in tropical forests.
Dr. Comita joined the faculty of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in July 2014. Prior to that she was an assistant professor in the department of evolution, ecology and organismal biology at Ohio State University. Dr. Comita earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in conservation biology from the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a Ph.D. in plant biology from the University of Georgia.