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I started my research career in Brazil, a country that has my heart. I have an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences through the Universidade Federal de São Carlos campus Sorocaba. While an undergrad, I was introduced to scientific research where we developed a couple of nanosensors with medical applications (1,2). Then, I decided to switch fields to focus my career on conservation biology. I had the opportunity to collaborate with landscape ecologists on a study on how different land planning scenarios could impact the conservation of key ecosystems on maintaining functional landscapes (3). Later, I was an intern at the MBM and IAC herbaria, where I had hands-on experience on how to collect, properly store, and identify plants. On the last years of my undergraduate course, I had the opportunity to do an internship at the Angatuba Ecological Station, a protected area in Brazil. There, I started to be aware of the impacts of plant invasion. This protected area holds an ecotone of Cerrado savanna and Atlantic semi-deciduous forest, which provides unique associated biodiversity (4). The Cerrado is, however, extremely threaded by the invasion of slash pine, introduced in the region for timber production decades ago. Motivated to understand better invasion processes and provide managers with meaningful recommendations, my research career has been focused on biological invasions since then.
I continued in academia by pursuing a Master's degree in Plant Biodiversity and Environment (minor in Vascular Plants) under Dr. Eduardo Pereira Cabral Gomes supervisor. During my Master's, we investigated whether distance to a botanical garden could be a surrogate for plant invasion in a rainforest remnant and defined management priorities for this protected area (5). In my Ph.D., I investigated whether temperate forests can be resistant to invasive plant species, by understanding how forests are structured when invaded.
My broad interests rely on investigating plant community ecology principles and how this knowledge can be applied to the management of invaded ecosystems (6, 10, 12). I was a postdoc at Sullivan's Lab at Michigan State University, where I investigated environmental memory of grasslands facing disturbance and nutrient additions using data from Cedar Creek (LTER). In 2024, I also joined the Disturbance and Resources Across Global Grasslands (DRAGNet) network. In January 2026, I joined the School of Biological Sciences at Southern Illinois University - Carbondale as an Assistant Professor. You can find the complete list of my publications below:
Peer-Reviewed:
20. Blumenthal, D., Diez, J., Pearse, I., Sofaer, H., Sorte, C., Barnett, D., Beaury, E., Bradley, B., Dukes, J., Early, R., Ibáñez, I., Laughlin, D., Petri, L., Vilà, M., Corbin, J.. (2025) Why are non-native plants successful? Consistently fast economic traits and novel origin jointly explain abundance across U.S. ecoregions. New Phytologist. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70307.
19. Bradley, B., Evans, A., Vilà, M., Barnett, D., Beaury, E., Blumenthal, D., Corbin, J., Dukes, J., Early, R., Ibáñez, I., Pearse, I. S., Petri, L., Sofaer, H., & Sorte, C.. (2025). A quantitative classification of the geography of non-native flora in the U.S. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 34: e70041. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70041.
18. Buonaiuto, D. M., Barnett, D., Blumenthal, D., Nebhut, A., Pearse, I., Sofaer, H., Sorte, C., Corbin, J., Early, R., Garbowski, M., Ibáñez, I., Laughlin, D., Petri, L., Vilà, M., & Bradley, B.. (2025). Using plant invasions to compare occurrence- and abundance-based calculations of biotic homogenization: are results complementary or contradictory? Global Ecology and Biogeography 34: e70022. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70022.
17. Petri, L., & Ibáñez, I.. (2025). Successful recovery of native plants post-invasive removal in forest understories is driven by native community features. Ecological Applications 35(2): e70012. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.70012.
16. Schaffer-Morrison, S., Ibáñez, I., Weemstra, M., Petri L., & Umaña, M. N.. (2024) Intraspecific trait variation in seedling species reveals independence between leaf and root traits but a lack of an independent "collaboration axis" belowground. Plant-Environment Interactions, 5: e70019. https://doi.org/10.1002/pei3.70019
15. Garbowski, M., Laughlin, D. C., Blumenthal, D., Sofaer, H., Barnett, D. T. , Beaury, E. M., Buonaiuto, D. M., Corbin, J. D., Dukes, J. S., Nebhut, A. N., Petri, L., Vilà, M., & Pearse, I. S.. (2024). “Introduced plant species consistently shift functional composition”. PNAS. 121: (40) e2403120121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2403120121
14. Zhang, W.-G., Song, X.-J., Petri, L., Liu, G., Chen, X.-Y., Liu, R.-L., Huang, F.-F., Zou, J.-B., Zhu, Z.-H. (2024). “Elevated nitrogen and co-evolution history with competitors shape the invasion process of Galinsoga quadriradiata”. Journal of Plant Ecology, 17 (4). https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtae047
13. Petri, L., Ibáñez, I. (2024). “Trait-related functional changes in understory forest community after invasion are driven by complementarity rather than displacement”. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 12, 1325275. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2024.1325275
12. Petri, L., Ibañez, I. 2023. “Assessing the mechanisms and impacts of shrub invasion in forests: A meta-analysis”. Journal of Applied Ecology, 00, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14496
11. Beaury, E. M., Sofaer, H. R., Early, R., Pearse, I. S., Blumenthal, D. M., Corbin, J. D., Diez, J., Dukes, J. S., Barnett, D. T., Ibáñez, I., Petri, L., Vilà, M., & Bradley, B. A. 2023. “Macroscale analyses suggest invasive plant impacts depend more on the composition of invading plants than on environmental context”. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13749
10. Ibáñez, I., Petri, L., Barnett, D., Beaury, E., Blumenthal, D., Corbin, J., Diez, J., Dukes, J., Early, R., Pearse, I., Sorte, C., Vilà, M., Bradley, B. 2023. "Combining local, landscape, and regional geographies to assess plant community vulnerability to invasion impact" Ecological Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2821.
9. Petri, L., Beaury, Evelyn M., Corbin, Jeffrey, Peach, Kristen, Sofaer, Helen, Pearse, Ian S., Early, Regan, et al. 2023. “ SPCIS: Standardized Plant Community with Introduced Status Database.” Ecology e3947. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3947
8. Nagy, R. C., [...], Petri, L., et al.. 2021. Harnessing the NEON data revolution to advance open environmental science with a diverse and data-capable community. Ecosphere 12(12):e03833. 10.1002/ecs2.3833
7. Gill, N. S., Mahood, A. L., Meier, C. L., Muthukrishnan, R., Nagy, R. C., Stricker, E., Duffy, K. A., Petri, L., and Morisette, J. T.. (2021). Six central questions about biological invasions to which NEON data science is poised to contribute. Ecosphere 12(9):e03728. 10.1002/ecs2.3728
6. Ibáñez, I., Liu, G., Petri, L., Schaffer-Morrison, S., & Schueller, S. (2021). Assessing vulnerability and resistance to plant invasions: A native community perspective. Invasive Plant Science and Management, 14(2), 64-74. doi:10.1017/inp.2021.15
5. L Petri, S Aragaki, E P C Gomes (2018). Management priorities for exotic plants in an urban Atlantic Forest reserve. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0102-33062017abb0317
4. K de Mello, L Petri, E C Leite, R H Toppa (2014). Environmental scenarios for land planning of permanent preservation areas in Sorocaba, SP. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-67622014000200011
3. L Petri, B H S Prado, A Z Antunes, B C Oliveira (2013). King Vulture Sarcoramphus papa (Linnaeus, 1758) (Aves, Cathartidae) nesting in a manmade structure. Biota Neotropica. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1676-06032013000200040
2. M L Moraes, L Petri, V Oliveira, C A Olivati, M C F de Oliveira, F V Paulovich, O N F Oliveira, M Ferreira (2012). Detection of glucose and triglycerides using information visualization methods to process impedance spectroscopy data. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2012.02.046
1. L Petri, M Ferreira, M L Moraes (2011). Toward Preserving the Structure of the Antigenic Peptide p17-1 from the HIV-1 p17 Protein in Nanostructured Films. https://doi.org/10.1166/jnn.2011.4216
Educational:
2. L Petri, B H S Prado. Biodiversidade em quadrinhos: nem tudo é o que parece ser (2016). 3rd volume. (Environmental Education Resource) ISBN: 978-85-64808-12-6
1. B H S Prado, L Petri, F O Garcia (2015). Management Plan of Angatuba Ecological Station: executive summary. ISBN: 978-85-8191-044-0
In my spare time, I love to hang out with my cats, play Capoeira, hike and do some gardening
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