Rate My Professor Jalene LaMontagne

Jalene M. LaMontagne is a distinguished population ecologist and macrosystems biologist who served as Professor in DePaul University’s Department of Biological Sciences from 2022 to 2024, following her promotion from Associate Professor (2018-2022) and tenure as Assistant Professor since joining the faculty in 2011. Prior appointments include Alberta Ingenuity Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary (2007-2009), Assistant Professor of Integrated Sciences at Asian University for Women in Bangladesh (2009-2010), and various research and teaching roles at the University of Calgary and University of Alberta. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Biology and Ecology from the University of Alberta in 2007, with a dissertation examining spatial and temporal variability in white spruce cone production and individual and population responses of North American red squirrels. Her M.Sc. in Conservation Ecology from the University of Calgary (2000) focused on habitat selection and behavior of trumpeter swans during spring migration, and her B.Sc. in Ecology, with a minor in Earth Sciences (1998), investigated maternal effects in Daphnia pulex related to food availability.

LaMontagne’s research investigates patterns and drivers of population variability and synchrony over space and time, with emphasis on mast seeding dynamics, tree reproduction, consumer-resource interactions in forest ecology, and effects of global change agents like climate on boreal conifer populations. During her DePaul tenure, she was awarded nearly $500,000 in National Science Foundation grants in 2022, led an NSF-funded Long-Term Ecological Research team, and served on the STEM Center Advisory Committee. Key honors include DePaul’s Mid-Career Excellence in Research Award (2021), nomination for Excellence in Teaching Award (2021), Mentor of the Year nominee (2019), and selection as an “Illinois Researcher to Know” in climate change by the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (2022). Her scholarship features prominent publications such as “Community synchrony in seed production is associated with trait similarity and climate across North America” (Ecology Letters, 2024; recipient of the Robert P. McIntosh Award), “Probabilistic theory for episodic ecological events” (Environmental Research Letters, 2024), “Evolutionary ecology of masting: mechanisms, models, and climate change” (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2024), and “MASTREE+: Time-series of plant reproductive effort from six continents” (Global Change Biology, 2022). She contributes as Associate Editor for Journal of Ecology (since 2020) and Canadian Journal of Forest Research (since 2025).