Rate My Professor Jalene LaMontagne

Jalene M. LaMontagne is the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor in Botanical Studies in the Department of Biology at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, a position she has held since 2024. She also serves as Principal Investigator at the Center for Conservation & Sustainable Development at the Missouri Botanical Garden, affiliate with the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center, Biodiversity Fellow with the Living Earth Collaborative, and Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College. LaMontagne earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Biology and Ecology from the University of Alberta in 2007, M.Sc. in Conservation Ecology from the University of Calgary in 2000, and B.Sc. in Ecology with a minor in Earth Sciences from the University of Calgary in 1998. Her career includes positions as Professor (2022–2024), Associate Professor (2018–2022), and Assistant Professor (2011–2018) in Biological Sciences at DePaul University; Alberta Ingenuity Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary (2007–2009); and Assistant Professor at the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh (2009–2010). Earlier roles encompass research and teaching positions at the University of Calgary.

A macrosystems biologist and global change ecologist, LaMontagne studies patterns and drivers of population variability and synchrony across scales from individuals to continents, with focus on mast seeding in plants—particularly boreal conifers like white spruce—consumer-resource dynamics, and environmental change impacts on tree reproduction. She has authored or co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications, including the 2025 Robert P. McIntosh Award-winning paper "Community synchrony in seed production is associated with trait similarity and climate across North America" (Ecology Letters, 2024); "Continent-wide patterns of climate and mast seeding entrain boreal bird irruptions" (Global Change Biology, 2025); "Probabilistic theory for episodic ecological events" (Environmental Research Letters, 2024); and "Evolutionary ecology of masting: mechanisms, models, and climate change" (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2024). Her research has secured over $1.9 million in National Science Foundation funding, including collaborative grants on boreal forest reproduction and macrosystems. Awards include the Mid-Career Excellence in Research Award from DePaul University (2021), Researcher to Know – Climate Change from the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (2022), and multiple fellowships such as the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship (2004–2006). LaMontagne serves as Associate Editor for the Canadian Journal of Forest Research (2025–present) and Journal of Ecology (2020–present).