ESA announces Sunshine Van Bael as the new editor-in-chief of Ecosphere
For Immediate Release
Nov. 15, 2023
Contact: Alison Mize, alison@esa.org
ESA announces Sunshine Van Bael as the new editor-in-chief of Ecosphere
The Ecological Society of America has named Sunshine Van Bael as the new editor-in-chief of its open-access journal Ecosphere. She will assume editorial leadership and oversight for the journal, which publishes research over a broad range of focal areas – ranging from agroecosystem ecology and disease ecology to eco-education, statistical theory and methodology.
Van Bael returns to a field site in coastal Louisiana to check on how blockage of a storm blow-out has improved planting success. Photo credit: Kat Fogg.
Van Bael earned a B.A. with Honors in Biology from the University of Chicago in 1996, and her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 2003 and is now an associate professor at the School of Science & Engineering, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University.
“It’s an honor to help lead Ecosphere. Publishing boundary spanning research with real world applications is a strength for the journal,” said Van Bael. “I’m looking forward to working with the ESA family of journals, Ecosphere’s strong editorial team and its authors.”
Van Bael’s laboratory studies community ecology with emphasis on symbioses and plant-microbial interactions. Broadly, she is interested in how plants become involved in symbioses with other organisms to feed themselves and defend themselves from enemies. She is involved in projects in Ecuador, Panama and in the southeastern US that include microbial ecology, chemical ecology, biodiversity conservation, coastal restoration and agroecology.
“We are excited to have Dr. Van Bael take the helm of Ecosphere as its new Editor in Chief. Under her leadership, Ecosphere is well poised to continue to grow in its role as a hub for rigorous, open-access research in the fields of ecology, evolution and environmental biology,” ESA President Shahid Naeem.
Van Bael will assume the role as editor-in-chief Dec. 1, 2023.
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The Ecological Society of America, founded in 1915, is the world’s largest community of professional ecologists and a trusted source of ecological knowledge, committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The 9,000 member Society publishes six journals and a membership bulletin and broadly shares ecological information through policy, media outreach, and education initiatives. The Society’s Annual Meeting attracts 4,000 attendees and features the most recent advances in ecological science. Visit the ESA website at https://esa.org.