Ecologist, Leader of ForestGEO Ecosystems & Climate ProgramSmithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute 1500 Remount Rd.; MRC 5535
Front Royal, Virginia 22630
Email: teixeirak@si.edu
Phone: 540-635-6546
Visit Kristina's Research Website
Research Disciplines: Research Interests:
forest ecology, ecosystem ecology, global change ecology, ecophysiology, forest-climate interactions, carbon cycle, global ecology
View Kristina's CVBiographical Sketch
Kristina is a forest ecologist at the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute’s (SCBI) Conservation Ecology Center and at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Center for Tropical Forest Science. She leads the Ecosystems and Climate Program for the Smithsonian-led Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO), which is the only forest monitoring network making standardized measurements in all the world’s major forest biomes. Her research focuses on interactions of forest ecosystems worldwide with Earth’s changing climate. Her research group employs a variety of methods including data synthesis, field research, and modeling to understanding how global change is altering forests around the world and how changes to forest ecosystems will either mitigate or exacerbate climate change. Her research focuses on ForestGEO sites, including the SCBI ForestGEO plot, for which she is one of the Principal Investigators. She led the creation of ForC, a large open-access database of forest carbon stocks and annual fluxes, and is using it to help characterize the potential for climate change mitigation through forest conservation and restoration. Kristina received an undergraduate degree in biology from Wheaton College (2002) and a PhD from the University of New Mexico (2007). In 2019, she received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
Education
- Ph.D. Biology (with distinction); University of New Mexico. (Aug. 2002-Jan. 2007).
- B.S. Biology (H) cum laude; Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. (Aug. 1998-May 2002).