Erica Bree Rosenblum

Research Expertise and Interest

evolutionary biology, global change biology, conservation biology, ecological genomics

Research Description

The Rosenblum lab studies the processes that generate and impact biological diversity.  We are particularly interested in both sides of the evolutionary speciation/extinction “coin” and in determining the mechanisms of rapid adaptation of animals to changing environments.  We work across levels of biological organization (from genes to phenotypes to behaviors to community assemblages) and use a variety of methodologies (from genomics to field ecology).  Topically, many of our projects focus on reptile and amphibians in the western US.  Currently funded efforts in the lab focus on disease-related declines in amphibians and ecological speciation in lizards. However, we have a diversity of other projects and collaborations in evolutionary ecology, ecological genomics, and global change biology.

In the News

Berkeley Voices: Biologist Confronts Deep Roots of Climate Despair

In this Berkeley Voices episode, Bree Rosenblum, a professor of global change biology at UC Berkeley, talks about why we need to stop blaming each other for the environmental crisis that we’re in, and instead confront its root causes and expand our ideas of what it means to be human on our planet.

The Climate Crisis: Justice and Solutions

Despite the grim findings of the latest U.N. Climate Report, UC Berkeley associate adjunct professor and report lead author Patrick Gonzalez expresses a “science-based optimism” about humanity’s ability to cut carbon emissions and limit the worst projected impacts of climate change.

Scientists track frog-killing fungus to help curb its spread

From habitat loss to climate change, amphibians around the world face immense threats to their survival. One emerging and sinister threat is the chytrid fungus, a mysterious pathogen that kills amphibians by disrupting the delicate moisture balance maintained by their skin, and that is decimating frog populations around the world.

Featured in the Media

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.
September 27, 2019

Scientists track frog-killing fungus to help curb its spread

Technology

One of the most mysterious and intractable killers of amphibians around the world is the chytrid fungus, which disrupts the delicate moisture balance of their skin. "Amphibians are already one of the most imperiled groups on the planet, and this fungal disease is further threatening their biodiversity," says associate environmental science, policy, and management professor Erica Bree Rosenblum, co-author of the most comprehensive map of the fungus's infections of frog populations. Professor Rosenblum conducted the research with graduate student Allison Byrne and an international team of scientists. "An invisible aspect of globalization is that when we move plants and animals around, we are moving their diseases around, and that can have really devastating consequences," she says. "If we know what lineages are where, we can better predict conservation outcomes, because some of these lineages are really deadly, and others less so." This story originated at Berkeley News.

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