Ripple Effect
Planting Seeds for the Future By Christine Byrd
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that draws researchers from around the world, Pratt met a UC Irvine doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology. Their romance bloomed and, after finishing her master’s in 2005, Pratt moved to Irvine, where she worked as a lecturer for several years before embarking on a doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Irvine. In 2007, she married fellow Anteater Riley Pratt ’09. Her early research explored how Artemisia californica, or California sagebrush, was responding to climate change. A staple of the state’s coastal ecosystems, the aromatic bush supports countless insects, birds and other wildlife and often plays a central role in habitat restoration projects. Pratt wanted her research to help guide those efforts. Her work found that Southern California’s coastal sage scrub may be more resilient than similar vegetation farther north and that the plants’ adaptations had led to unexpected impacts on insects and other wildlife up the food chain. “One of the things we’re trying to do as conservationists is future-proof our projects instead of solely restoring to some historical baseline,” Pratt explains.
PHOTO: Steve Zylius / UCI
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n her classes, Jessica Pratt, Ph.D. ’13, professor of teaching in ecology and evolutionary biology, introduces students to the Japanese philosophy of ikigai. The concept helps people identify their life’s purpose by looking at the intersection of skills, passions, job opportunities and what the world needs. Pratt’s life purpose has driven her to spend two decades at UC Irvine as a first-generation student, researcher, teacher and scholarship supporter. “For me, it’s motivating the next generation of Earth stewards,” she says. “The greater the number of people on the planet who connect to nature, care about the Earth and are paying attention to our impacts, the better our chances of adapting to and mitigating the results of climate change.” Growing up, Pratt spent ample time outdoors in rural Michigan fishing, camping and hiking. Her home was nestled between a cornfield and a forest that served as an idyllic playground – until developers cut down her woodland paradise to build a huge housing tract. Not only did the trees disappear, but so did the animals that lived there. The experience – when Pratt was just 8 or 9 – changed her life. “It was very personal,” she remembers. “That was the moment when I became aware of how humans can change nature so quickly, and my values around caring for nature and preservation started.” Pratt was the first in her family to go to college, and although she gravitated toward science, she had no idea what kinds of careers a science degree could lead to besides healthcare. In her junior year, Pratt landed in ecology and conservation courses and enjoyed them enough to start asking her professors about opportunities in the field. They guided her to a master’s in zoology at North Carolina State University. Her first encounter with UC Irvine came, unexpectedly, nearly 3,000 miles away from the campus. On an eight-week tropical biology program in Costa Rica