Rachel Gallery

Dr. Gallery studies ecology of plant-microbe interactions, community diversity, and biogeochemical cycling in response to fire, land use change, and climate change. Working across a range of ecosystems from lowland Neotropical and high elevation conifer forests to semi-arid grasslands and tropical wetlands, her research group uses a combination of ecological experiments, microbiological techniques, and contemporary  genetic and metagenomic tools to develop hypotheses to test the effects of plant-microbe interactions on plant community richness and species abundance, understand how environmental shifts will alter these interactions, and accurately predict the subsequent impacts on ecosystem function. Dr. Gallery serves on the Advisory Board of the 500 Women Scientists, a not-for-profit organization whose mission aligns with her personal mission to serve society by making science open, inclusive, and accessible.