The Westerband Lab is based at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL). Dr Andrea C Westerband, lab PI, completed a PhD at the University of Miami in 2016, followed by various postdoctoral positions in Hawaii and Australia. In 2024, she relocated to the United States to begin her position at ULL, with an intent to focus on native plant conservation and restoration, combining her two areas of expertise: population biology and plant ecophysiology.

Westerband, Curriculum Vitae
Journal Publications (for most up-to-date list, see Google Scholar)
  1. Zhang, H., Wang, H., Wright, I.J., Prentice, I.C., Harrison, S.P., Smith, N​.G., Westerband, A., Rowland, L., Plavcova, L., Morris, H., Reich, P.B., Jansen, S., Keenan, T. 2025. Thermal acclimation of stem respiration reduces terrestrial carbon emissions. Science 388 (6750), 984-988. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adr9978
  2. Westerband, A.C., Knight, T.M., Barton, K.E. 2025. Scale-dependent variation in leaf functional traits clarifies mechanisms of invasion, e07566. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.07566
  3. Li, J., Westerband, A., Wright, I.J., Li, X., Du, J., Zhong, Q.L., Hu, D., and Cheng, D. 2024. Temperature and plant-available soil phosphorus drive intraspecific variation in plant economic traits across an elevation gradient, Annals of Botany, mcae212, https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae212
  4. Westerband, A.C., Knight, T.M., Barton, K.E. 2024. A test of island plant syndromes using resource use traits. Journal of Systematics and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.13032
  5. Fan, B., Westerband, A.C.*, Wright, I.J., Gao, P., Ding, N., Ai, D., Tian, T. Zhao, X. Sun, K. 2024. Shifts in plant resource use strategies across climate and soil gradients in dryland steppe communities. Plant and Soil: 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06401-z
  6. Westerband, A.C., Wright, I.J., Maire, V., Paillassa, J., Prentice, I.C., Atkin, O.K., Bloomfield, K.J., Cernusak, L.A., Dong, N., Gleason, S.M., Guilherme Pereira, C., Lambers, H., Leishman, M.R., Malhi, Y., Nolan, R.H. 2023. Coordination of photosynthetic traits across soil and climate gradients. Global Change Biology, 29: 856-873. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16501
  7. Lei, Z., Westerband, A., Wright, I.J., He, Y., Zhang, W., Cai, X., Zhou, Z., Liu, F., Zhang, Y. 2022. Leaf trait covariation and controls on leaf mass per area (LMA) following cotton domestication. Annals of Botany, 130(2):231-243. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcac086
  8. Westerband, A., Wright I.J., Eller, A.S.D., Cernusak, L.A., Reich, P.B., Perez-Priego, O., Chhajed, S.S., Hutley, L.B., Lehmann, C.E.R. 2022. Nitrogen concentration and physical properties are key drivers of woody tissue respiration. Annals of Botany, 129 (6): 633-646. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcac028
  9. Liu, Z., Dong,N., Zhang, H., Zhao M., Ren, T., Liu C., Westerband, A., He, N. 2021. Divergent long- and short-term responses to environmental gradients in specific leaf area of grassland species. Ecological Indicators, 130: 108058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108058.
  10. Barton, K., Westerband, A., Ostertag, R., Stacy, E., Drake, D., Litton, C., Winter, K., Cordell, S., Fortini, L., Bennett, G., Krushelnycky, P., Kawelo, K., Feliciano, K., and Knight, T. 2021. Hawai’i forest review: Synthesizing the ecology, evolution, and conservation of a model system. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 52: 125631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2021.125631
  11. Westerband, A., J. Funk, and K. Barton. 2021. Intraspecific trait variation in plants: a renewed focus on its role in ecological processes. Annals of Botany, 127(4): 397-410. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcab011
  12. Westerband, A., T. Knight, and K. Barton. 2021. Intraspecific trait variation and reversals of trait strategies across key climate gradients in native Hawaiian plants and non-native invaders. Annals of Botany, 127 (4): 553-564. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaa050
  13. Paillassa, J., Wright, I.J., Prentice, I.C., Pepin, S., Smith, N.G., Ethier, G., Westerband, A.C., Lamarque, L.J., Han, W., Cornwell, W.K. and Maire, V. 2020. When and where soil is important to modify the carbon and water economy of leaves. New Phytologist, 228: 121-135. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16702
  14. Westerband, A., T. Knight, and K. Barton. 2020. Intraspecific variation in seedling drought tolerance and associated traits in a critically endangered, endemic Hawaiian shrub. Plant Ecology and Diversity, 13(2): 159-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2020.1730459
  15. Westerband, A., A. Kagawa-Viviani, K. Bogner, K, D. Beilman, T. Knight, and K. Barton. 2019. Seedling drought tolerance and functional traits vary in response to the timing of water availability in a keystone Hawaiian tree species. Plant Ecology, 220(3): 321-344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-019-00917-0
  16. Westerband, A., and C. Horvitz. 2017. Photosynthetic rates influence the population dynamics of herbs in stochastic light environments. Ecology, 98: 370-381. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1664
  17. Westerband, A., and C. Horvitz. 2017. Early life conditions and precipitation influence the performance of widespread understory herbs in variable light environments. Journal of Ecology, 105: 1298-1308. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12757
  18. Westerband, A., and C. Horvitz. 2015. Interactions between plant size and canopy openness influence vital rates and life-history tradeoffs in two Neotropical understory herbs. American Journal of Botany, 102: 1290-1299. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1500041
  19. Westerband, A., M. Dovčiak, G. LaQuay-Velazquez, J.S. Medeiros. 2015. Aspect influences soil moisture and species coexistence in semi-arid pinyon-juniper woodlands of the southwestern United States. The Southwestern Naturalist, 60: 21-29. https://doi.org/10.1894/FMO-18.1

​Book Chapters

  1. Westerband, A.C., and Barton. K.E. 2024. Investigating the origins and effects of intraspecific trait variation. In M. Kumar, R.W. Bussmann, & N.G. Swenson (Eds.) Plant Functional Traits: Linking Climate and Ecosystem Functioning. Elsevier. eBook ISBN: 9780443133688.
We are actively recruiting students interested in pursuing a graduate degree in biology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Students with a background in plant biology are particularly encouraged to apply.​

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