Education
Ph.D., University of Montana
Lab Website
Research Interests
- Lab: Irvine 314
Ongoing rapid environmental transformation exposes organisms to novel stressors which can, in the absence of adaptation, contribute to population declines and extinction. My research program seeks to understand these dynamics and predict their effects on wild vertebrate populations. In my research I use a broad range of tools and approaches including intensive field surveys, museum specimens, high-resolution climate and environmental data, and advanced statistical modelling. Ultimately, the goal of my integrative research program is to better guide conservation and management of wild populations and species threatened by global environmental change.
Relevant Publications
- For a complete list of publications visit Google Scholar .
Zimova M., B. C. Weeks, D. E. Willard, S. T. Giery, V. Jirinec, R. Burner, B. M. Winger. 2023. Body size predicts the rate of contemporary morphological change in birds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 120(20), e2206971120.
Zimova M., D. Moberg, L. S. Mills, A. J. Dietz, and A. Angerbjörn. 2022. Color molt phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes. Biology Letters 18(11), 20220334.
Zimova M., D. E. Willard, B. M. Winger, and B. C. Weeks. 2021. Widespread shifts in bird migration phenology are decoupled from parallel shifts in morphology. Journal of Animal Ecology 90, 2348– 2361.
Zimova M., S. T. Giery, S. Newey, J. J. Nowak, M. Spencer, and L. S. Mills. 2020. Lack of phenological shift leads to increased camouflage mismatch in mountain hares. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287: 20201786.
Zimova, M., K. Hackländer, J. M. Good, J. Melo-Ferreira, P. C. Alves and L. S. Mills. 2018. Function and underlying mechanisms of seasonal colour moulting in mammals and birds: What keeps them changing in a warming world? Biological Reviews . doi:10.1111/brv .12405.
Mills, L. S., E. V. Bragina, A. V. Kumar, M. Zimova, D. J. R. Lafferty, J. Feltner, B. M. Davis, K. Hackländer, P. C. Alves, J. M. Good, J. Melo-Ferreira, A. Dietz, A. V. Abramov, N. Lopatina, and K. Fay. 2018. Winter color polymorphisms identify global hot spots for evolutionary rescue from climate change. Science 359:1033–1036.
Zimova, M., L. S. Mills, and J. J. Nowak. 2016. High fitness costs of climate change-induced camouflage mismatch. Ecology Letters : 10.1111/ele.12568.