Director

Taylor Ricketts is Gund Professor and Director of the Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont. Taylor’s research centers on the overarching question: How do we meet the needs of people and nature in an increasingly crowded, changing world? His recent work has focused on the economic and health benefits provided to people by forests, wetlands, reefs, and other natural areas.

He is co-founder of the Natural Capital Project, a partnership among universities and NGOs to map and value these natural benefits. Taylor has also served as an author and editor for two UN-sponsored efforts to assess global ecosystems and their contributions to human wellbeing. Before arriving at UVM in 2011, he led World Wildlife Fund’s Conservation Science Program for nine years. These and other roles are part of a continuing effort to link rigorous research with practical conservation and policy efforts worldwide.

Taylor is an elected Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Ecological Society of America. Thompson-Reuters has named him one of the world’s most cited and influential scientists.

Publications

Selected

Herrera, D., A. Ellis, B. Fisher, C.D. Goldend, K. Johnson, M. Mulligan, A. Pfaff, T. Treuer, T.H. Ricketts (2017). Upstream watershed condition predicts rural children’s health across 35 developing countries. Nature Communications.

Ricketts, T.H., K.B. Watson, I. Koh, A.M. Ellis, C.C. Nicholson, S. Posner, L.L. Richardson, L.J. Sonter (2016). Disaggregating the evidence linking biodiversity and ecosystem services. Nature Communications 7:13106. Doi:10.1038/ncomms13106

Watson, K.B., T.H. Ricketts, G. Galford, S. Polasky, J. O’Niel-Dunne (2016). Quantifying flood mitigation services: The economic value of Otter Creek wetlands and floodplains to Middlebury, VT. Ecological Economics 130:16-24.

Koh, I., E.V. Lonsdorf, N.M. Williams, C. Brittain, R. Isaacs, J. Gibbs, & T.H. Ricketts (2016) Modeling the status, trends, and impacts of wild bee abundance in the United States. PNAS 113(1):140-145. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1517685113

Posner, S.M., E. McKenzie, T.H. Ricketts (2016). Policy impacts of ecosystem services knowledge. PNAS 113(7):1760-1765.

Guerry, A.D., S. Polasky, J. Lubchenco, R. Chaplin-Kramer, G.C. Daily, R. Griffin, M. Ruckelshaus, I.J. Bateman, A. Duraiappah, T. Elmqvist, M.W. Feldman, C. Folke, J. Hoekstra, P.M. Kareiva, B.L. Keeler, S. Li, E. McKenzie, Z. Ouyang, B. Reyers, T.H. Ricketts, J. Rockström, H. Tallis, B. Vira. (2015). Natural capital and ecosystem services informing decisions: From promise to practice. PNAS 112(24): 7348-7355.

Ellis, A.M., S.S. Myers, T.H. Ricketts (2015). Do pollinators contribute to nutritional health? PLoS ONE 10(1): e114805. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0114805

Fisher, B., R. Naidoo, T.H. Ricketts (2014). A field guide to economics for conservationists. Roberts & Co. 185 pp.

Ricketts, T.H., E. Lonsdorf (2013). Mapping the margin: Comparing marginal values of tropical forest remnants for pollination services. Ecological Applications 23(5): 1113- 1123.

Garibaldi, L.A., I. Steffan-Dewenter, R. Winfree, M. A. Aizen, R. Bommarco, S. A. Cunningham, C. Kremen, L. G. Carvalheiro, L. D. Harder, O. Afik, I. Bartomeus, F. Benjamin, V. Boreux, D. Cariveau, N. P. Chacoff, J. H. Dudenhöffer, B. M. Freitas, J. Ghazoul, S. Greenleaf, J. Hipólito, A. Holzschuh, B. Howlett, R. Isaacs, S. K. Javorek, C. M. Kennedy, K. Krewenka, S. Krishnan, Y. Mandelik, M. M. Mayfield, I. Motzke, T. Munyuli, B. A. Nault, M. Otieno, J. Petersen, G. Pisanty, S. G. Potts, R. Rader, T. H. Ricketts, M. Rundlöf, C. L. Seymour, C. Schüepp, H. Szentgyörgyi, H. Taki, T. Tscharntke, C. H. Vergara, B. F. Viana, T. C. Wanger, C. Westphal, N. Williams, A. M. Klein (2013). Wild pollinators enhance fruit set of crops regardless of honey-bee abundance. Science 339 (6127): 1608-1611.

Taylor Ricketts

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Environment and health, conservation biology, ecology, pollination and agriculture, ecosystem services, ecological economics, biogeography, environmental policy

Education

  • PhD, Biological Sciences, Stanford University 
  • BA, Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College

CV

PDF icon Ricketts_CV_2023.pdf

Contact

Email:

taylor.ricketts@uvm.edu

Phone:
  • 802-656-7796
Website(s):
  1. Google Scholar
  2. Taylor Ricketts' Lab