Today’s forests face a litany of threats that are being exacerbated by anthropogenic climate change: drought, heat, fires, and pest and pathogen outbreaks. Meanwhile, understanding and forecasting the sylvan response to these issues has become trickier than ever.

Fortunately, UC Santa Barbara ecologist Anna Trugman(link is external) is hard at work on this task, an effort that has attracted the attention of her peers. Trugman, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, was awarded the 2021 Tansley Medal from the New Phytologist Foundation. The annual award recognizes outstanding contributions to research in plant science by an individual in the early stages of their career. Trugman was selected based on her work developing models to predict how forests may react to environmental stresses.