K. M. F.
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 Because animals matter.

Exploring all the ways animals matter:
from their role in ecosystem function
​to how we consider them in conservation.
​I'm an ecosystem ecologist generally interested in how to incorporate animals into current ecological paradigms. Presently, I explore how animals interact with their environments, as well as how conservation considers and incorporates animals into decision making. 
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Appointments:
Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan (2025 - )
Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, Memorial Univeristy (2024-2025)
Board Member, Alaska Future Ecology Institute 


Education:
Ph.D, Yale School of the Environment (2024)
​MPhil., Yale School of the Environment (2022) 
MSc., Vanderbilt University (2018)
BSc., Boston College (2015)

​
Contact:
email: [email protected] or [email protected] 
Bluesky: ​‪@kristymferraro.bsky.social‬
google scholar
CV

​
​​Pronouns: She/Her

News:

Animals don't just repsond to their environments - they transform them! Check out our new paper in TREE describing Zoogeochemical Niche Construction.

Storytelling in ecological and conservation writing is essential, but relying on tropes such as the hero-villain is problematic. Check out our paper that outlines the problems with the hero-villain narrative in science writing, and provides fun alternatives and the BioScience Talks podcast! 

We often ask how a species affects an ecosystem. But what about all of them—together? Our paper outlines a framework that predicts how animals of all shapes and sizes act within their communities to influence elemental distribution on landscapes. 


I'm honored to have won the Georgina Mace Prize from Ecological Solutions and Evidence for our paper quantifying the nutrients lost from Scottish landscapes due to deer culling practices!
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  • Home
  • Research
    • Animal-Ecosystem Interactions
    • Conservation Biology Under Global Change
    • Conservation Ethics
    • Previous Research
  • Publications