Enquist Lab

Predictive Biodiversity Science Across Scales

We live in a world of unprecedented rapid climate and land use change. A central goal of ecology and evolutionary biology is to understand the origin, maintenance, and fate of organismal form, function, and diversity — and then to predict how these processes scale up to influence the functioning of ecosystems and the biosphere.

The Macroecology Lab is an international network of broadly trained ecologists, botanists, physiologists, evolutionary biologists, macroecologists, and informaticians. We seek to discover general processes of how organisms (mainly plants, though we often stray into other systems) work and interact with each other and their environment. Our shared goal is to synthesize and build a more predictive biodiversity science. We work in tropical and temperate forests and high alpine ecosystems, using combinations of theoretical, computational, informatics, biophysical, trait-based, physiological, and ecophysiological approaches.

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Research Pillars

Biological Scaling

We test how allometric constraints shape growth, resource use, and ecosystem structure across scales.

Trait-Based Ecology

We use Trait Driver Theory to connect trait distributions with community assembly and ecosystem function.

Biodiversity Informatics and Forecasting

We integrate occurrence, trait, and environmental data to generate reproducible biodiversity forecasts.

From Data to Prediction

1. Integrate data: occurrences, traits, plots, taxonomy, and environmental layers
2. Build theory-guided models: scaling and trait-based frameworks
3. Quantify uncertainty: explicit assumptions, confidence bounds, and scenario contrasts
4. Support decisions: conservation planning, risk assessment, and open tools

Featured Outputs

• Science and theory synthesis: Selected publications spanning allometry, trait ecology, and biodiversity science.
• Open data infrastructure: BIEN and software resources for plant occurrence, range, and trait integration.

Research Focus

• Metabolic and allometric scaling
• Trait-based ecology and Trait Driver Theory
• Biodiversity informatics and data integration
• Global change biology and forecasting
• Open and reproducible ecological science

I am an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Ecological Society of America (ESA).

For opportunities to work with the lab, see Join Us.

Enquist Macroecology Lab
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Room 310, Biological Sciences West
1041 E. Lowell St., Tucson, AZ 85721
📞 (520) 626-3336 · benquist@arizona.edu