Heather Reynolds

Heather Reynolds is a Professor of Biology and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Biology at Indiana University Bloomington. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1995, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, Hickory Corners, Michigan, from 1995 to 1998. Reynolds' research interests center on plant-environment interactions and their applications to prairie and woodland restoration as well as sustainable and resilient urban and agricultural systems. Her work examines mechanisms shaping plant and microbial community composition and diversity, ecosystem functioning, and responses to abiotic and biotic environmental changes. Key foci include the importance of plant-soil and plant-microbe relationships, the role of environmental heterogeneity, and the context-dependency of plant-soil feedbacks in plant invasions. She primarily studies herbaceous systems such as prairies, old-fields, and forest floors using experimental and observational approaches. Reynolds collaborates on urban green infrastructure to integrate green spaces with human-built environments.

In her career at Indiana University Bloomington, Reynolds has earned prestigious awards including the Trustees Teaching Award in 2023, Excellence in Research Campus Catalyst Award in 2015, Beth Wood Distinguished Service-Learning Faculty Awards in 2012, 2013, and 2014, Service-Learning Partnership Award in 2012, Poynter Center Interdisciplinary Faculty Fellowship and Seminar in 2005-2006, and Community Outreach & Partnerships in Service-Learning Faculty Award in 2004. She served on the City of Bloomington Environmental Commission from 2001 to 2010 and contributed to the volume “Teaching Environmental Literacy Across Campus and Across the Curriculum.” Reynolds delivers public lectures on ecological limits, the steady-state economy, and ecosystem services values. She partners with the Biology Club, Volunteers in Sustainability, and university facilities for native prairie and woodland landscaping and leads service-learning courses on invasive species control and native restoration. Her scholarship in plant community ecology and plant-soil-microbe interactions has over 14,000 citations on Google Scholar, and she received a North Central Region SARE Sustainable Agriculture Grant of $28,394 in 2018.

Professional Email: hlreynol@iu.edu