Joel Ralston

Joel Ralston is now an Assistant Professor at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, IN.

I am broadly interested in the ecology, evolution, and biogeography of birds. More specifically, my research focuses on how historic and ongoing climate change alter species’ abiotic and biotic environments, and how these changes influence community structure and intraspecific genetic diversity. Currently I am working on a project to identify potential spruce-fir forest refugia where spruce-fir obligate bird species may persist into the future despite ongoing climate change.

Modeling effects of climate change on spruce-fir forest ecosystems and associated priority bird populations

Distributional changes in spruce-fir forests and forest-dependent wildlife: effects of climate variability and climate change