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Dr. Jane M. Lucas

Community Ecologist | PhD, University of Oklahoma

Expertise
microbial ecology, ecology of antibiotics, agricultural ecosystems and soil health, global change ecology, ecology of microbiomes, plant-insect-microbe interactions, bioinformatics, multi-omics techniques

External site: www.janemlucas.com | Profile (pdf) 

Twitter: @Jane_m_lucas

845 677-7600 x139

Jane Lucas studies microbial communities, which exist in nearly every environment and play a key role in nutrient cycling. These tiny and abundant microorganisms help fertilize plants and recycle organic debris, with important implications for agriculture and ecosystem health. Lucas is working to uncover the hidden complexity of microbial life, primarily in soils, from tropical forests to farmlands around the world. Central questions: How do global change factors combine with local human activities to affect belowground microbial communities? And how do those microbial changes impact soil health, productivity, and the carbon cycle?

In her Stressed Out Soils project, Lucas is examining how four factors — antibiotics, fungicides, rising temperatures, and drought — interact in surprising ways to influence communities of soil microbes, plants, and insects. Findings will inform strategies to help farmers maintain healthy soils and maximize soil carbon storage in the rapidly changing Hudson Valley and beyond.

Lucas participates in the global research collaborative known as DRAGNet (Disturbance and Recovery Across Global Grasslands). This project analyzes how grassland ecosystems respond to common agricultural practices such as tilling and fertilizer application. While DRAGNet currently focuses on plant responses, Lucas has ambitious plans to expand the program to explore belowground impacts as well. If funded, the project would measure agricultural impacts on soil food webs and carbon storage at 58 sites in 17 countries. The goal is to clarify grassland contributions in the carbon cycle, enabling more precise climate policies and enhancing carbon management strategies.

At three sites in the Hudson Valley, Lucas is investigating whether solar panel installations have the potential to double as carbon storage sites. Can these former agricultural lands be maintained as grassland carbon sinks, or is the soil health too degraded? As solar installations become increasingly common, this work will inform how we can maximize land use.

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Ramoneda, Josep, Kunkun Fan, Jane M. Lucas, Haiyan Chu, Andrew Bissett, Michael S Strickland, and Noah Fierer. 2024. “Ecological Relevance of Flagellar Motility in Soil Bacterial Communities”. The ISME Journal 18 (1). Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1093/ismejo/wrae067.
Wepking, C, Jane M. Lucas, VS Boulos, and MS Strickland. 2024. “Antibiotic Legacies Shape the Temperature Response of Soil Microbial Communities”. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY 15. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2024.1476016.
Lemoine, Nathan P., Michelle L. Budny, Ethan Rose, Jane M. Lucas, and Christopher W. Marshall. 2023. “Seasonal Soil Moisture Thresholds Inhibit Bacterial Activity and Decomposition During Drought in a Tallgrass Prairie”. Oikos. Wiley. doi:10.1111/oik.10201.
Barrera-Bello, Ángela M., Jane M. Lucas, and Evan M. Gora. 2023. “Suspended Sections Within Downed Deadwood Are Drier, Have Altered Decomposer Communities, and Slower Decomposition”. Ecosystems 27 (1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 77-89. doi:10.1007/s10021-023-00874-w.
Osburn, ED, PJ Hoch, Jane M. Lucas, SG McBride, and MS Strickland. 2022. “Evaluating the Roles of Microbial Functional Breadth and Home-Field Advantage in Leaf Litter Decomposition”. FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY. doi:10.1111/1365-2435.14026.
McBride, SG, ED Osburn, Jane M. Lucas, JS Simpson, T Brown, JE Barrett, and MS Strickland. 2022. “Volatile and Dissolved Organic Carbon Sources Have Distinct Effects on Microbial Activity, Nitrogen Content, and Bacterial Communities in Soil”. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY. doi:10.1007/s00248-022-01967-0.
Joseph, N, Jane M. Lucas, N Viswanath, R Findlay, J Sprinkle, MS Strickland, E Winford, and AS Kolok. 2021. “Investigation of Relationships Between Fecal Contamination, Cattle Grazing, Human Recreation, and Microbial Source Tracking Markers in a Mixed-Land-Use Rangeland Watershed”. WATER RESEARCH 194.
Lucas, Jane M., J Jonas, AN Laws, DH Branson, SC Pennings, CM Prather, and MS Strickland. (2025) 2021. “Functional and Taxonomic Diversity of Grasshoppers Differentially Shape Above- and below-Ground Communities and Their Function”. FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY 35 (1): 167-80.
Lucas, Jane M., BS Sone, D Whitmore, and MS Strickland. (2025) 2021. “Antibiotics and Temperature Interact to Disrupt Soil Communities and Nutrient Cycling”. SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY 163. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108437.
Lucas, Jane M., SG McBride, and MS Strickland. (2025) 2020. “Trophic Level Mediates Soil Microbial Community Composition and Function”. SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY 143.
Lucas, Jane M., Evan M. Gora, Annika Salzberg, and Michael Kaspari. 2019. “Antibiotics As Chemical Warfare across Multiple Taxonomic Domains and Trophic Levels in Brown Food Webs”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286: 20191536. doi:doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.1536.
Wepking, C, B Badgley, JE Barrett, KF Knowlton, Jane M. Lucas, KJ Minick, PP Ray, SE Shawver, and MS Strickland. (2025) 2019. “Prolonged Exposure to Manure from Livestock-Administered Antibiotics Decreases Ecosystem Carbon-Use Efficiency and Alters Nitrogen Cycling”. ECOLOGY LETTERS 22 (12): 2067-76.
Danielsson, R, Jane M. Lucas, J Dahlberg, M Ramin, S Agenas, AR Bayat, I Tapio, T Hammer, and T Roslin. (2025) 2019. “Compound- and Context-Dependent Effects of Antibiotics on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Livestock”. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 6 (10).
Lucas, Jane M., AA Madden, CA Penick, MJ Epps, PR Marting, JL Stevens, DJ Fergus, RR Dunn, and EK Meineke. 2019. “Azteca Ants Maintain Unique Microbiomes across Functionally Distinct Nest Chambers”. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 286 (1908).
Gora, Evan M., and Jane M. Lucas. 2019. “Dispersal and Nutrient Limitations of Decomposition above the Forest Floor: Evidence from Experimental Manipulations of Epiphytes and Macronutrients”. Functional Ecology 33. Wiley Online Library: 2417-29. doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13440.
Gora, Evan M., Jane M. Lucas, and Stephen P. Yanoviak. 2019. “Microbial Composition and Wood Decomposition Rates Vary With Microclimate from the Ground to the Canopy in a Tropical Forest”. Ecosystems 22: 1206-19.
Lucas, Jane M., NA Clay, and M Kaspari. (2025) 2018. “Nutrient Transfer Supports a Beneficial Relationship Between the Canopy Ant, Azteca Trigona, and Its Host Tree”. ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY 43 (5): 621-28.
Lucas, Jane M., Evan M. Gora, and Alfonso Alonso. 2017. “A View of the Global Conservation Job Market and How to Succeed in It”. Conservation Biology 31: 1223-31. doi:10.1111/cobi.12949.
Lucas, Jane M., B Bill, B Stevenson, and M Kaspari. (2025) 2017. “The Microbiome of the Ant-Built Home: The Microbial Communities of a Tropical Arboreal Ant and Its Nest”. ECOSPHERE 8 (2).
Kaspari, M, NA Clay, Jane M. Lucas, S Revzen, A Kay, and SP Yanoviak. (2025) 2016. “Thermal Adaptation and Phosphorus Shape Thermal Performance in an Assemblage of Rainforest Ants”. ECOLOGY 97 (4): 1038-47.

Projects