Isabella Ragonese

I am interested in how global change and human activity impact species interactions and management. I use both empirical and theoretical approaches, with the ultimate goal of informing conservation decisions. In the past, I've worked with birds, insects, plants, herpetofauna, ordinary differential equations, and population matrix models. My current project explores the effects of heat waves on pollinator plant ecotypes. I aim to understand whether plant provenance can be leveraged to establish resilient pollinator habitat.

Ragonese, I.G., C. Brandon, J. Chavez, J.C. de Roode, R.J. Hall, S. Altizer. Host plants and experimental warming impact fitness and infection outcomes in a migratory butterfly. Ecological Entomology, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.70010 Ragonese, I.G., M.R. Sarkar, R.J. Hall, S. Altizer. Extreme heat reduces host and parasite performance in a butterfly-parasite interaction. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2305 Steele, C., I.G. Ragonese, A.A. Majewska. Extent and impacts of winter breeding in the North American monarch butterfly. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2023.101077 Sánchez, C.A., I.G. Ragonese, J.C. de Roode, S. Altizer. Thermal Tolerance and environmental persistence of a protozoan parasite in monarch butterflies. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2021.107544