Gund Postdoctoral Fellow, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Food Systems Research Center

Cari is a Postdoctoral Associate with the Food Systems Research Center and the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. With UVM, she will be exploring how farmers perceive soil health and their capacity to improve it through management practices.

Cari’s interested in research that combines social science and ecology to understand how humans can live more sustainably, how scientists can communicate more effectively with non-scientists, and what influences the adoption of environmentally protective behaviors. Her PhD research focused on the factors that influence people to adopt sustainable behaviors in the Lake Erie region. Prior to that, her MS research examined the effect of soil nutrient availability on litter dwelling invertebrate community ecology in a wet montane forest.

Publications

  • Ritzenthaler, C. (2023). Exploring the Development of an Environmental Identity Using an Autoethnographic Approach. Journal of Sustainability Education.
  • Ritzenthaler, C. A., Maloney, C. E., Maran, A. M., Moore, E. A., Winters, A., & Pelini, S. L. (2018). The feedback loop between aboveground herbivores and soil microbes via deposition processes. Aboveground–Belowground Community Ecology, 201-221. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91614-9_9

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Social ecology, sustainable behavior change, community ecology, soil ecology, science communication

Education

  • Ph.D. Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University
  • M.S. Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University
  • B.S. Ecology and Conservation, Bowling Green State University

Contact

Email:

Cari.Ritzenthaler@uvm.edu

Website(s):
  1. LinkedIn
  2. Research Gate
  3. Google Scholar