Manette Sandor

Visiting Scientist

Research Interests

Manette Sandor, PhD, is a Visiting Scientist at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation and a Columbia Science Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University. One prong of her research focuses on the socioecological impacts of shifting fire regimes in the western U.S. Another prong of her research focuses on how climate change, habitat loss, and invasive species affect plant-animal interactions, particularly seed dispersal and pollination.

She is additionally a professor for Frontiers of Science, a core curriculum course at Columbia University that explores scientific principles, including statistics, across disciplines. She is currently mentoring a Columbia University undergraduate student on their thesis and is a  Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) mentor.

She completed her MS in Plant Ecology and PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut. She spent one year as a Postdoctoral Scholar with Landscape Conservation Initiative and the School of Sustainability and the Environment at Northern Arizona University before coming to New York City.

Publications

  • Sandor ME, Tingley MW, Elphick CS. Spatial scaling of network diversity. In review.
  • Sandor ME, Elphick CS, Tingley MW. Extinction of biotic interactions due to habitat loss could accelerate the current biodiversity crisis. Accepted. Ecological Applications.
  • Liang CT, Shiels AB, Haines WP, Sandor ME, Aslan CE. Globally invasive predators reduce pollinator visitation. Accepted. Ecological Applications.
  • Sandor ME, Aslan CE, Pejchar L, Bronstein JL. 2021. Predicting the effects of climate change on fruiting phenology. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. DOI: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.752110/full
  • Aslan CE, Sandor ME, Sample M, Stortz S, Souther S, Levine C, Samberg L, Gray M, Dickson B. 2021. Estimating social-ecological fire resilience across an arid region. Ecological Applications. DOI: 10.1002/eap.2303.
  • Aslan CE, Souther S, Stortz S, Sample M, Sandor ME, Levine C, Samberg L, Gray M, Dickson B. 2020. Land management objectives and activities in the face of projected fire regime change in the Sonoran Desert. Journal of Environmental Management. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111644.
  • Tingley MW, Nadeau CP, Sandor ME. 2020. Multi-species occupancy models as robust estimators of community richness. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.13378.
  • Schupp E, Zwolak R, Jones L, Snell R, Beckman N, Aslan C, Cavazos B, Effiom E, Fricke E, Montaño-Centellas F, Poulsen J, Razafindratsima O, Sandor ME, Shea K. 2019. Intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of intraspecific variation in seed dispersal are diverse and pervasive. AoB Plants. DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plz067.
  • Rogers HR, Beckman NG, Hartig F, Johnson J, Pufal G, Shea K, Zurell D, Bullock JM, Loiselle BA, Pejchar L, Razafindratsima OH,Sandor ME, Schupp EW, Strickland C, Zambrano J. 2019. The total dispersal kernel: a review and future directions. AoB Plants DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plz042.
  • Beckman NG, Aslan CE, Rogers HR, Kogan O, Bronstein JL, Bullock JM, Hartig F, HilleRisLambers J, Zhou Y, Zurell D, Brodie JF, Bruna EM, Cantrell SR, Decker R, Effiom EO, Fricke EC, Gurski K, Hastings A, Johnson J, Loiselle BA, Miriti MN, Neubert MG, Pejchar L, Poulsen JR, Pufal G, Razafindratsima OH,Sandor ME, Shea K, Schreiber SJ, Schupp EW, Snell RS, Strickland C, Zambrano J. 2019. Advancing an interdisciplinary framework to study seed dispersal ecology. AoB Plants DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plz048.
  • Aslan CE, Beckman N, Rogers H, Bronstein J, Zurell D, Hartig F, Shea K, Pejchar L, Neubert M, Poulsen J, HilleRisLambers J, Miriti JM, Loiselle B, Effiom E, Zambrano J, Schupp E, Pufal G, Johnson J, Bullock J, Brodie J, Bruna E, Cantrell S, Decker R, Fricke E, Gurski K, Hastings A, Kogan O, Razafindratsima O, Sandor ME, Schreiber S, Snell R, Strickland C, Zhou Y. 2019. Employing plant functional groups to advance seed dispersal ecology and conservation. AoB Plants. 11: plz006, DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plz006.
  • Letcher SG, Lasky JR, Chazon RL, Norden N, Wright SJ, Meave JA, Pérez-García EA, Muñoz R, Romero-Pérez E, Andrade A, Andrade JL, Balvanera P, Becknell JM, Bentos TV, Bhaskar R, Bongers F, Boukili V, Brancalion PHS, César RG, Clark DA, Clark DB, Craven D, DeFrancesco A, Dupuy JM, Finegan B, González-Jiménez E, Hall JS. Harms KE, Hernández-Stefanoni JL, Hietz P, Kennard D, Killeen TJ, Laurance SG, Lebrija-Trejos EE, Lohbeck M, Martínez-Ramos M, Massoca PES, Mesquita RCG, Mora F, Muscarella R, Paz H, Pineda-García F, Powers JS, Quesada-Monge R, Rodrigues RR, Sandor ME​, Sanaphre-Villanueva L, Schüller E, Swenson NG, Tauro A, Uriarte M, van Breugel M, Vargas-Ramírez O, Viani RAG, Wendt AL, Williamson GB. 2015. Environmental gradients and the evolution of successional habitat specialization: a test case with 14 Neotropical forest sites. Journal of Ecology 103: 1276-90. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.12435.
  • Sandor MEand Chazdon RL. 2014. Remnant trees affect species composition but not structure of tropical second-growth forest. PLoS ONE.DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083284.
Popular Press:

Tucson Weekly. Beal, M. 2021. “Summer Invaders: Increased fire risk threatens all inhabitants of the Sonoran Desert”

Mongabay.com. Barrett, N. 2014. “Leftover trees enhance the biodiversity of new forests”

Website:

https://mesandor.weebly.com