Toni Lyn Morelli

Author: Bhawana Paudel

Dr. Toni Lyn Morelli is currently a Research Ecologist with the US Geological Survey at the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center. She wears many hats in her role, one of which is conducting research and coordination around climate change refugia (CCR) mapping and conservation. 

Pathway to Refugia - The Road Less Traveled

Toni Lyn's journey with refugia starts with her days studying lemur social behavior and genetics. Watching the devastation of global change in Madagascar, she realized she wanted to change her research focus. She was lucky to get a position with Dr. Connie Millar, now retired US Forest Service Research Scientist, who Toni Lyn calls the “mother of climate change refugia research”. 

During her time with Connie in California’s Sierra Nevada, Toni Lyn learned about a particular idea in paleoecology: there were regions in the world that had not altered much, despite widespread climate changes, over thousands of years – her introduction to refugia. As she met with managers, she learned of their interest in relating this idea to anthropogenic climate change. 

Later, Toni Lyn became a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley, studying the how climate change had affected small mammals in the Sierra Nevada. By modeling downscaled climate data and other environmental variables, Toni Lyn and her colleagues were able to map meadows that had been buffered from climate change over the last century – i.e., climate change refugia – which were then prioritized for conservation and restoration. 

In 2012, after a year-long stint working on rainforest conservation and mitigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Toni Lyn was hired at the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center in Amherst, MA, where she has been ever since. There she has continued to research and work to conserve refugia, in forests and vernal pools and other ecosystems in the northeastern U.S. In 2018, she and Aaron Ramirez founded the Refugia Research Coalition, a community of researchers and resource managers focusing on identifying and conserving climate change refugia in the U.S. and around the world. She and her team of students and collaborators have been growing the network ever since. She led a special issue in Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment and has another special issue scheduled for Conservation Science & Practice next year.

Conducting Climate Change Refugia Research - At the Desk and In the Field

Working on CCR and collaborating with natural resource managers, Toni Lyn has been guided by the important question of where managers can prioritize their limited resources for effective conservation actions. 

Throughout her research career, Toni Lyn has used cutting-edge, high-tech methods of genomics, bioinformatics, remote sensing, and ecological modeling. From her time in the Sierra Nevada to the Congo, Toni has hiked thousands of miles, gathering data for the models she later generates. Moreover, she has acted as a boundary spanner, collaborating with state and federal agencies, NGOs, tribal members, and other researchers to collectively achieve conservation goals.  

Although her days are spent more often in meetings than mountains these days, Toni Lyn loves her work and is proud of what she and her collaborators have accomplished. She conveys her appreciation for all the people she works with and her excitement about sharing ideas with everyone, from students and early career scientists to senior scientists and managers, to improve management and conservation.

Unforeseen Challenges

Challenges that Toni Lyn currently faces have been with trying to get everything done with the limited time available from her and busy collaborators. She also finds herself occasionally frustrated by the localized data and ecological response information that are needed but not yet available. These challenges are different, and feel somehow more overwhelming, than those she experienced during weeks in the backcountry, isolated with her small team, hungrily trudging through three feet of snow while carrying 50-pound packs. 

Memorable Experiences

For Toni Lyn, some of her most important CCR work is taking place far from MA in Tanzania. She brings her deep love for the animals and peoples and landscapes of East Africa to apply the latest CCR science and translational ecology approaches to the needs of the biodiversity hotspots there appreciates the opportunity to have had her boots on the ground and explore the region. Inspired by her climate change refugia project in Tanzania, she returned in January 2024 to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, her joy visible in the photograph above. 

Advice for Future Researchers

Toni Lyn advises something straightforward: find something you love and work hard at it. “That plus a little luck,” she says, “can take you far.” She underscores the importance of having a range of voices and perspectives in the discussions and work of addressing environmental issues and conservation: “There’s a place for all of you at this table.” 

Learn more about Toni Lyn’s work and community building at https://morellilab.weebly.com/.