Our lab’s research centers on the impacts of global environmental change on terrestrial and marine ecosystems. This includes the effects of elevated carbon dioxide, climate change, fire, and biotic invasions on dryland and alpine ecosystems both in Utah and globally. We’ve recently begun a collaborative project to link western science and indigenous knowledge to produce resilient biological and cultural systems in the face of climate change. Our lab’s research bridges the fields of physiological, community, ecosystem, and landscape ecology as well as environmental biophysics. Some of the work aligns with mission-oriented agencies, supported by grants from Joint Fire Science, USDA, NASA, EPA/DOE, and the USGS. Other work is more theoretical and has been supported by the National Science Foundation.
Biography
Richard A. Gill is Dean of Undergraduate Education and Professor of Biology at Brigham Young University, where he has taught since 2008 and currently leads university-wide efforts to strengthen undergraduate learning and student success. A conservation biologist and ecologist by training, Gill earned his bachelor’s degree in conservation biology from BYU before completing a Ph.D. in ecology at Colorado State University, where he studied plant–soil interactions in dryland ecosystems. He later conducted postdoctoral research at Duke University in plant physiological ecology and began his academic career at Washington State University studying global change ecology. His research explores how ecosystems respond to climate variability, drought, disturbance, and changing atmospheric conditions, with projects ranging from the deserts and mountain ecosystems of the American West to coral reef and community resilience efforts in the South Pacific. He has published widely in journals including Nature, Ecology, Global Change Biology, and Oecologia and has received research support from the National Science Foundation, NASA, the USDA, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Throughout his career, Gill has been deeply committed to teaching, mentoring, and interdisciplinary undergraduate education. At BYU he has taught courses in ecology, conservation biology, environmental science, and honors education while mentoring graduate and undergraduate students in both field and laboratory research. His teaching and leadership have been recognized through honors including the BYU College of Life Sciences Teaching Award and the Alcuin Fellowship in General Education. Gill’s work is also shaped by longstanding relationships in the South Pacific. After learning Samoan while serving as a missionary in New Zealand, he developed ongoing research, teaching, and humanitarian collaborations in Samoa, Hawai’i, and New Zealand. In recognition of those relationships and his contributions to community and environmental initiatives, he was awarded a Matai (paramount chief) title in 2026 by the village of Saipipi in Samoa.