Bio

Jeremy Brooks is an aquatic foodweb and community ecologist who marvels at the ecological connections between land and water. He is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Montana in the Wildlife Biology Program, where he and his collaborators are investigating the decadal effects of wildfire on riparian plant regrowth and stream-riparian ecosystems. He completed his doctorate degree in biology with a minor in biology education from Idaho State University in 2024, and he obtained his bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology and a minor in communication studies at the University of Montana in 2017. When he isn’t picking bugs and scrubbing rocks with his toothbrush, Jeremy enjoys running, skiing, growing cherry toms, cooking (and eating) with his wife, and sipping coffee in the morning.

Jeremy is a place-based scientist, and he takes his role as ecologist quite literally (the Greek translation of ecology is the “study of home”). Growing up and living in the western US, he has experienced the joy and wonder of the region’s rivers and valleys. He has also observed them being altered by non-native species, human development, and increasingly extreme droughts, floods and fire. To understand what this means for his home, Jeremy’s research bridges the gap between organismal biology, community ecology and ecosystem processes (e.g., nutrient dynamics and energy flows). As a NW CASC Fellow, this translates to investigating how increasingly extreme fire regimes are affecting the foodweb linkages between land, water and their communities. Jeremy’s goal is to help the public, scientists and managers to conserve both the human and non-human communities that rely on the ecological connections between rivers and their valleys.

Learn about Jeremy’s research project