Isabella Ragonese

Dr. Isabella Ragonese is a member of the 2025-2027 "Future of Species Range Shifts" cohort in the CASC Network Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral Fellows Program. She is working with the Northeast CASC at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 
 
Dr. Ragonese is a community ecologist studying how wildlife respond to global change and human activity, from host-parasite interactions under climate warming to the consequences of managed relocations. Her dissertation work focused on the responses of migratory butterflies, birds and their parasites to climate warming. At NECASC, her research focuses on exploring the effects of heat waves on pollinator plant ecotypes. She aims to understand how plant provenance can be leveraged to establish climate-smart pollinator habitat. Isabella has also worked with USGS collaborators to provide quantitative support for freshwater turtle repatriation decisions under disease and genetic uncertainty. She received her B.A. in Integrated Biology from Skidmore College and her Ph.D. in Ecology from the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia.