Theresa Ong
Assistant Professor
Appointments
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
Area of Expertise
Agroecology,
Population and community ecology,
Urban agriculture,
Biocomplexity,
Biological Control,
Non-linear dynamics,
Critical transition theory
Biography
Theresa Ong is an agroecologist who combines theory with empirical work in agricultural systems to understand how complex interactions between the environment, organisms and people ultimately influence food production and ecosystem stability. Her work focuses on how biocomplexity in terms of space, time and species diversity, influences the resilience of agricultural systems to both ecological and political perturbations. Specific interests include urban agriculture, agroforestry, biological control, critical transition theory, socio-ecological modeling, biocomplexity and spatio-temporal synchrony.
Education
B.A. Williams College
M.S. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Publications
Ong, T.W., Roman-Alcalá, A., Jiménez-Soto, E., Jackson, E., Perfecto, I., Duff, H., 2024. Momentum for agroecology in the USA. Nature Food 5, 539–541. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-01006-w)
Ong, T.W., Lin, B.B., Lucatero, A., Cohen, H., Bichier, P., Egerer, M.H., Danieu, A., Jha, S., Philpott, S.M., Liere, H., 2022. Rarity begets rarity: Social and environmental drivers of rare organisms in cities. Ecological Applications 32, e2708. (https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2708)
Ong, T.W., Liao, W., 2020. Agroecological Transitions: A Mathematical Perspective on a Transdisciplinary Problem. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 4. (https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00091)
Ong, T. W., and J. Vandermeer. 2018. Multiple hysteretic patterns from elementary population models. Theoretical Ecology:1–7. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12080-018-0376-1), F1000 Prime: https://f1000.com/prime/733670582
Ong, T. W., D. Allen, and J. Vandermeer. 2018. Huffaker revisited: Spatial heterogeneity and the coupling of ineffective agents in biological control. Ecosphere 9:e02299. (https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecs2.2299)
Ong, T. W., and J. Vandermeer. 2015. Coupling unstable agents in biological control. Nature Communications 6. (https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms6991)
Ong, T. W., and J. Vandermeer. 2014. Antagonism between two natural enemies improves biological control of a coffee pest: The importance of dominance hierarchies. Biological Control 76:107–113. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049964414001236)
Contact