Dr. Riley Pizza
@rileypizza.bsky.social
Postdoc at Arizona State University || Equitable teaching practices & Restoration Seed Sourcing|| PhD Michigan State University || M.S University of Minnesota Duluth || 🏳️⚧️They/Them🏳️⚧️
And come see my talk thursday morning about whether seed sourcing could be a tool to build resiliency into native plant restorations
August 10, 2025 at 5:54 PM
And come see my talk thursday morning about whether seed sourcing could be a tool to build resiliency into native plant restorations
I'm heading to #esa2025 and I am on the job market! Looking for academic positions at SLACs and PUI's broadly where I could share my love of restoration ecology with undergrads in the classroom and in the lab! Send me your leads, or learn more about me from my website
rpizza94.github.io/RileyPizza/
rpizza94.github.io/RileyPizza/
August 10, 2025 at 5:52 PM
I'm heading to #esa2025 and I am on the job market! Looking for academic positions at SLACs and PUI's broadly where I could share my love of restoration ecology with undergrads in the classroom and in the lab! Send me your leads, or learn more about me from my website
rpizza94.github.io/RileyPizza/
rpizza94.github.io/RileyPizza/
Okay, I'll ACTUALLY be done with MSU once I do one last set of field surveys! follower question: What do y'all think is the best prairie grass? ((fyi there is only one correct answer))
July 1, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Okay, I'll ACTUALLY be done with MSU once I do one last set of field surveys! follower question: What do y'all think is the best prairie grass? ((fyi there is only one correct answer))
And that's a wrap! It's been an amazing 5yrs at MSU. I've been so lucky to have had an amazing advisor in @lars-brudvig.bsky.social, a super supportive lab, and an abundance of beautiful prairies. Not goodbye, just see you later! Go green!💚🤍
June 27, 2025 at 9:40 PM
And that's a wrap! It's been an amazing 5yrs at MSU. I've been so lucky to have had an amazing advisor in @lars-brudvig.bsky.social, a super supportive lab, and an abundance of beautiful prairies. Not goodbye, just see you later! Go green!💚🤍
My name is Riley (they/them), and I'm a tall grass prairie restoration ecologist and STEM Ed researcher! My random fact is that I currently live in Lansing michigan, and it's the furthest I've ever lived from a great lake!
June 7, 2025 at 12:21 PM
My name is Riley (they/them), and I'm a tall grass prairie restoration ecologist and STEM Ed researcher! My random fact is that I currently live in Lansing michigan, and it's the furthest I've ever lived from a great lake!
Teaching at the University of Michigan's biological station for a month--so excited to be enjoying beautiful sunsets every night and doing place-based education 🥰
May 20, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Teaching at the University of Michigan's biological station for a month--so excited to be enjoying beautiful sunsets every night and doing place-based education 🥰
You want an encore? Okay! One more year of data collection on how plant communities establish when sown with different seed sources under both ambient and experimentally warmed conditions! Elevated temperature chambers went back up today, excited to see what i find! 🌱🧪
April 16, 2025 at 8:31 PM
You want an encore? Okay! One more year of data collection on how plant communities establish when sown with different seed sources under both ambient and experimentally warmed conditions! Elevated temperature chambers went back up today, excited to see what i find! 🌱🧪
Some of the very nice ones I received ((I'm not crying you're crying))
April 8, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Some of the very nice ones I received ((I'm not crying you're crying))
It's graduate student appreciation week and the front office and some faculty wrote kind messages for every grad student 🥹 everything feels bad rn but this made things a bit better
April 8, 2025 at 3:35 PM
It's graduate student appreciation week and the front office and some faculty wrote kind messages for every grad student 🥹 everything feels bad rn but this made things a bit better
IT'S HAPPENING!!! 1wk from tomorrow I'll be Dr. Pizza! DM me if you'd like to attend virtually and I can send you a link :)
April 3, 2025 at 3:33 PM
IT'S HAPPENING!!! 1wk from tomorrow I'll be Dr. Pizza! DM me if you'd like to attend virtually and I can send you a link :)
I was struggling with what to write about #TransDayOfVisibility this year, but I'll say this: sorry (not sorry) to any scientists who want to distance themselves from "The trans issue" to "keep" science non-partisan because im going to *personally* become a problem for you.
April 1, 2025 at 1:12 AM
I was struggling with what to write about #TransDayOfVisibility this year, but I'll say this: sorry (not sorry) to any scientists who want to distance themselves from "The trans issue" to "keep" science non-partisan because im going to *personally* become a problem for you.
Dissertation: complete! Defense in t-2wks!
March 27, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Dissertation: complete! Defense in t-2wks!
Burned a prairie today!
March 26, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Burned a prairie today!
My two favorite people became doctors yesterday!!! Congratulations to Dr. Graham and Dr. Roberts @milesroberts.bsky.social
March 26, 2025 at 2:12 PM
My two favorite people became doctors yesterday!!! Congratulations to Dr. Graham and Dr. Roberts @milesroberts.bsky.social
I noticed today that my work has been cited 100 times!!! I'm so happy to know that other researchers are using my work as motivation and/or explanation for the research they do! I'm also rapidly reaching the point where I can't read all the papers i'm cited in 😭
March 18, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I noticed today that my work has been cited 100 times!!! I'm so happy to know that other researchers are using my work as motivation and/or explanation for the research they do! I'm also rapidly reaching the point where I can't read all the papers i'm cited in 😭
Catch me at the Michigan state Capitol this afternoon repping my intersectional identities! Trans people do science and science is better because of it! #StandUpForScience 🌱🧪
March 7, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Catch me at the Michigan state Capitol this afternoon repping my intersectional identities! Trans people do science and science is better because of it! #StandUpForScience 🌱🧪
Highlights of really cool new research coming out of ESA journals, would highly recommend checking all of these out-- especially the one about seed sourcing for restoration :)
esa.org/blog/2025/03...
esa.org/blog/2025/03...
March 3, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Highlights of really cool new research coming out of ESA journals, would highly recommend checking all of these out-- especially the one about seed sourcing for restoration :)
esa.org/blog/2025/03...
esa.org/blog/2025/03...
Winter is neat and all, but i'm ready for prairie season
February 10, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Winter is neat and all, but i'm ready for prairie season
And that's a wrap on my second dissertation chapter! This was the most challenging data analysis I've ever done (shoutout to @llseedsull.bsky.social and Bruce Martin for their invaluable help!). I learned a TON in this process, and can't wait to use these skills on future projects. #2down1togo
January 21, 2025 at 5:12 PM
And that's a wrap on my second dissertation chapter! This was the most challenging data analysis I've ever done (shoutout to @llseedsull.bsky.social and Bruce Martin for their invaluable help!). I learned a TON in this process, and can't wait to use these skills on future projects. #2down1togo
So, what do we do with all this? First, I strongly recommend more restoration research that considers site context! Without accounting for edge effects and consumer access, our experiment would’ve shown almost no impact of seed mix design. #MeasureMoreCovariates
January 21, 2025 at 5:12 PM
So, what do we do with all this? First, I strongly recommend more restoration research that considers site context! Without accounting for edge effects and consumer access, our experiment would’ve shown almost no impact of seed mix design. #MeasureMoreCovariates
Finally, while we rarely saw an interactive effect of increasing both species and source diversity, when we did, it was always when species identities were included. This suggests that these seed mix design decisions may have different impacts for different species!
January 21, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Finally, while we rarely saw an interactive effect of increasing both species and source diversity, when we did, it was always when species identities were included. This suggests that these seed mix design decisions may have different impacts for different species!
We observed a similar pattern in source diversity: fields sown with more genotypes of each species had similar sown species amounts, except when they were in environments with consumer access during the first year (must have been something tasty in those mixes!)
January 21, 2025 at 5:12 PM
We observed a similar pattern in source diversity: fields sown with more genotypes of each species had similar sown species amounts, except when they were in environments with consumer access during the first year (must have been something tasty in those mixes!)
Our biggest finding was that the impact the seed mix had on the restored community was often dependent on these restoration site factors. For example, fields sown with more species were often buffered from the detrimental impacts of edge effects and consumer pressure (check out those slopes!)
January 21, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Our biggest finding was that the impact the seed mix had on the restored community was often dependent on these restoration site factors. For example, fields sown with more species were often buffered from the detrimental impacts of edge effects and consumer pressure (check out those slopes!)
To get some empirical results, we carried out a prairie restoration experiment, manipulating seed mix design (species diversity and genetic diversity) and key site factors (edge proximity and vertebrate consumer access), surveying communities in the 1st and 5th growing seasons.
January 21, 2025 at 5:12 PM
To get some empirical results, we carried out a prairie restoration experiment, manipulating seed mix design (species diversity and genetic diversity) and key site factors (edge proximity and vertebrate consumer access), surveying communities in the 1st and 5th growing seasons.