Amy D. Rosemond

Amy D. Rosemond is an American aquatic ecosystem ecologist, biogeochemist, and Distinguished Research Professor at the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. Rosemond studies how global change affects freshwater ecosystems, including effects of watershed urbanization, nutrient pollution, and changes in biodiversity on ecosystem function. She was elected an Ecological Society of America fellow in 2018, and served as president of the Society for Freshwater Science from 2019-2020.

Education and early career Rosemond grew up in Florida in the 1970s, where her love of nature was confronted by increasing human pressures on the environment. Rosemond earned her Bachelor of Sciences degree in zoology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She remained at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill to complete her Master of Arts degree in biology.

Rosemond went on to earn a Ph.D. in biology at Vanderbilt University, where she was co-advised by Vanderbilt faculty Susan Brawley and Oak Ridge National Laboratory research scientist Patrick J. Mulholland . Rosemond conducted her dissertation research at the Oak Ridge National Lab, in Tennessee, USA, studying how both top-down predation and bottom-up nutrient availability affect periphyton in headwater streams.

After completing her Ph.D. in 1993, Rosemond was awarded a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellowship in environmental biology. She completed her postdoc at the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia, during which she conducted research at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica examining the top-down and bottom-up effects of predatory fishes and shrimps and phosphorus, respectively, on leaf-litter breakdown and carbon processing. While working at La Selva, Rosemond also conducted research on landscape-scale variation in stream phosphorus concentrations, and its effects on stream detritivore food webs.

Career Rosemond worked as the assistant director of the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia from 1998-2005. She became an assistant professor at the University of Georgia in 2005 in the Odum School of Ecology, an associate professor in 2011, and a professor in 2017.

Awards

Distinguished Research Professor, University of Georgia (2022) Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (2018) Creative Research Medal in Natural Sciences and Engineering, University of Georgia Office of Research (2018) National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Biology

Publications

Selected journal articles

Rosemond, A.D., et al. 2015. Experimental nutrient additions accelerate terrestrial carbon loss from stream ecosystems. Science 347: 1142-1145. Rosemond, A.D., et al. 2010. Non-additive effects of litter mixing are suppressed in a nutrient-enriched stream. Oikos 119: 326-336. Rosemond, A.D., et al. 2008. Nitrogen versus phosphorus demand in a detritus-based headwater stream: what drives microbial to ecosystem response? Verhandlungen des Internationalen Verein Limnologie. 30: 651-655. Rosemond, A.D., et al. 2002. Landscape variation in phosphorus concentration and effects on detritus-based tropical streams. Limnology and Oceanography 47: 278-289. Rosemond, A.D., et al. 1993. Top-down and bottom-up control of stream periphyton: effects of nutrients and herbivores. Ecology 74: 1264-1280.