Bethany Bradley

Bethany Bradley is a Professor of Biogeography and Spatial Ecology in the Department of Environmental Conservation at UMass. She is interested in how the geographical locations of species across landscapes and regions can inform ecological understanding of species distributions, invasion risk assessments, and conservation planning. Her research has a strong focus on terrestrial plant invasions, with a goal of understanding how invasion risk varies spatially in the context of anthropogenic disturbance and climate change.

Primary Interests

Invasion ecology, biogeography, global change ecology

I am interested in how terrestrial ecosystems respond to anthropogenically driven changes, particularly interactions between invasive species, land use and climate change. I aim to improve forecasting of future changes to ecosystems, particularly risks of non-native plant invasions, using tools from biogeography and landscape ecology. My research has implications for invasion ecology, natural resource management and biological conservation.

Current Projects

• Geography of invasive plant abundance and impact
• Invasion and fire
• Invasion and climate change (https://www.risccnetwork.org/)

Courses Taught

Current

Invasion Ecology

Introduction to Geographic Information Science (GIS)

GIS Problem Solving

Previous

Global Change Ecology

Education

PhD 2006 – Brown University

MSc 2003 – Brown University

BA 2000 – Pomona College

Selected Publications

Beaury, E.M., E.J. Fusco, M.R. Jackson, B.B. Laginhas, T. Morelli, J.M. Allen, V. Pasquarella, B.A. Bradley “Incorporating climate change into invasive species management – insights from managers”, Biological Invasions, 22, 233-252, 2020

Rockwell-Postel, M., B.B. Laginhas, and B.A. Bradley, “Supporting proactive management in the context of climate change: Prioritizing range-shifting invasive plants based on impact”, Biological Invasions, 22, 2371-2383, 2020

Beaury, E.M., J.T. Finn, J.D. Corbin, V. Barr, and B.A. Bradley, “Biotic resistance to invasion is ubiquitous across ecosystems of the United States”, Ecology Letters, 23, 476-482, 2019

Bradley, B.A., B.B. Laginhas, R. Whitlock, A.E. Bates, G. Bernatchez, J.M. Diez, J.M. Allen, R. Early, J. Lenoir, M. Vila, and C.J.B. Sorte, “Disentangling the abundance-impact relationship for invasive species”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(20), 9919-9924, 2019

Fusco, E.J., J.T. Finn, J.K. Balch, R.C. Nagy, and B.A. Bradley, “Invasive grasses increase fire occurrence and frequency across U.S. ecoregions”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(47), 23594-23599, 2019

Fusco, E.J., J.T. Finn, J.T. Abatzoglou, J.K. Balch, S. Dadashi, and B.A. Bradley, Remote Sensing of Environment, 220, 30-40, 2019

Shiklomanov, A.N., B.A. Bradley, K. Dahlin, A. Fox, C. Gough, F.M. Hoffman, E. Middleton, S. Serbin, L. Smallman, W. Smith, In Press, Frontiers in Ecology & Environment

Bradley, B.A., J.M. Allen, M.W. O’Neill, R.D. Wallace, C.T. Bargeron, J.A. Richburg, and K. Stinson, Ecosphere, 9(7), e02303, https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2302, 2018

Bradley, B.A., C.A. Curtis, E.J. Fusco, J.T. Abatzoglou, J.K. Balch, S. Dadashi, and M.N. Tuanmu, Biological Invasions, 20(6), 1493-1506, 10.1007/s10530-017-1641-8, 2018

Nagy, R.C., E.J. Fusco, B.A. Bradley, J.T. Abatzoglou, and J.K. Balch, Fire, 1(1): 4, 2018

Pasquarella, V.J., J.S. Elkinton, and B.A. Bradley, Biological Invasions, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1778-0, 2018

Ziska, L.H., B.A. Bradley, R.D. Wallace, C.T. Bargeron, J.H. LaForest, R.A. Choudhury, K.A. Garrett, and F.E. Vega, Agronomy, 8(152), doi:10.3390/agronomy8080152, 2018

Balch, J.K, B.A. Bradley, J.T. Abatzoglou, R.C. Nagy, E.J. Fusco and A.L. Mahood, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(11): 2946-2951, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1617394114, 2017

Cross, T., J.T. Finn and B.A. Bradley, Ecosphere 8(5):e01800. 10.1002/ecs2.1800, 2017

Pasquarella, V.J., B.A. Bradley, and C.E. Woodcock, Forests 8(8), 275, 10.3390/f8080275, 2017

Allen, J.M. and B.A. Bradley. “Out of the weeds? Reduced plant invasion risk with climate change in the continental United States” Biological Conservation, 203:306-312, 2016

Fusco, E.J., J.T. Abatzoglou, J.K. Balch, J. Finn and B.A. Bradley. “Quantifying the human influence on fire ignition across the western US”, Ecological Applications, 26(8): 2388-2399, 2016

Bocsi, T., J.M. Allen, J. Bellemare, M. Nishino, J. Kartesz and B.A. Bradley, “Plants’ native distributions do not reflect climatic tolerance”, Diversity & Distributions, 22: 615-624, 2016

Bradley, B.A., R. Early, C.J.B. Sorte “Space to invade? Comparative range infilling and potential range of invasive and native plants”, Global Ecology & Biogeography 24(3):348-359, 2015

Bradley, B.A., “Remote detection of invasive plants, a review of spectral, textural and phenological approaches”, Biological Invasions 16(7):1411-1425, 2014

Bradley, B.A., “Distribution models of invasive plants over-estimate potential impact”, Biological Invasions, 15(7): 1417-1429, 2013

Balch, J.K., B.A. Bradley, C.M. D’Antonio, and J. Gomez-Dans, “Introduced annual grass increases regional fire activity across the arid western USA (1980-2009)”, Global Change Biology, 19: 173-183, 2013

Bradley, B.A., D.M. Blumenthal, R. Early, E.D. Grosholz, J.J. Lawler, L.P. Miller, C.J.B. Sorte, C.M. D’Antonio, J.M. Diez, J.S. Dukes, I. Ibanez, and J.D. Olden, “Global change, global trade, and the next wave of plant invasions”, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 10(1): 20-28, 2012

Bradley, B.A., D.M. Blumenthal, and D.S. Wilcove, L.H. Ziska, “Predicting plant invasions in an era of global change”, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 25(5), 310-318, 2010

Bradley, B.A., M. Oppenheimer, and D.S. Wilcove, “Climate Change Increases Risk of Plant Invasion in the Eastern United States”, Biological Invasions, 12(6), 1855-1872, 2010