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Ivette Perfecto

James E. Crowfoot Collegiate Professor of Environmental Justice
Ecosystem Science and Management
Climate + Energy
Food Systems
perfecto@umich.edu
(734)-764-8601
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3541 Dana
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About

I am the James E. Crowfoot Collegiate Professor of Environmental Justice. My research focuses on biodiversity and arthropod-mediated ecosystem services in rural and urban agriculture. I also work on spatial ecology of the coffee agroecosystem and am interested more broadly on the links between small-scale sustainable agriculture, biodiversity and food sovereignty. I am co-author of four books, Breakfast of Biodiversity,  Nature’s Matrix: Linking Agriculture, Conservation and Food Sovereignty, and Coffee Agroecology, and Ecological Complexity and Agroecology.

Teaching Interests:

I teach “Globalization and its Discontent: Struggles for Food, Water and Energy” (Environ 270), Diverse Farming Systems (NRE 553), and Transformative Food Systems Seminar (NRE 556). In my courses, I like to challenge students to think for themselves. Most of my classes have a strong Latin American flavor because I am from Latin America (Puerto Rico), and I conduct research in Latin America (Mexico, Mesoamerica, and Puerto Rico). Most of my courses are interdisciplinary and are taught from a social justice perspective.

Publications

2021–2022

  • Morris, J and I. Perfecto. In press. A dominant non-consumptive effect mediates pest control and multi-predator interactions in a coffee agroecosystem. Ecological Applications.
  • Li, K. Hajian-Forooshani, C. Su, I. Perfecto and J. Vandermeer. 2022. Climate change and resistant varieties mediate critical transition in coffee rust disease. Scientific Reports 12: 1564.
  • Benitez, M., J. A. Rosell, I. Perfecto. 2022. Mathematical modelling and complex systems in agroecology (Editorial). Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 560.
  • Iverson, A., R. Burham, I. Perfecto, N. Vandenberg and J. Vandermeer. 2022. A tropical lady beetle, Diomus lupusapudoves (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), deceives potential enemies to predate an ant-protected coffee pest through putative chemical mimicry. International Journal of Tropical Insect Science 42(1): 947-953.
  • McCune, N., Y. Luna, J. Vandermeer e I. Perfecto. 2021. Cuestiones agrarias y transformaciones agroecológicas. In: M. Benítez, T. Rivera-Núñez and L. García-Barrios (eds.), Agroecología y Sistemas Complejos: Planteamientos Epistémicos, Casos de Estudio y Enfoques Metodológicos, SOCLA, Mexico, pp 27-50.
  • Jedlicka, J. A., S.M. Philpott, M.L. Baena Hurtado, P. Bichier, T.V. Dietsch, L. Hayward, S. Langdridge, I. Perfecto, R. Greenberg. 2021. Differences in insectivore bird diets in coffee agroecosystems driven by obligate or generalist guild, shade management, season, and year. PeerJ 9:e12296
  • Newson, J., J. Vandermeer and I. Perfecto. 2021. Differential effects of ants as biological control of the coffee berry borer in Puerto Rico. Biological Control 160: 104666.
  • González González, C, E. Mora Van Cauwelaert, D. Boyer, I. Perfecto, J. Vandermeer, M. Benítez. 2021. High-order interactions maintain or enhance structural robustness of a coffee agroecosystem network. Ecological Complexity 47: 100951.
  • Soley, F. and I. Perfecto. 2021. A way forward for biodiversity conservation: high-quality landscapes. Submitted to Trends in Ecology and Evolution 36(9): 770-773.
  • Irizarry, A., J. A. Collazo, J. Vandermeer, and I. Perfecto. 2021. Coffee plantations, hurricanes and avian resiliency: insights from local occupancy, colonization and extinction rates in Puerto Rico. Global Ecology and Conservation, 27: e01579.
  • Schmitt, L., R. Greenberg, G. Ibarra Núñez, P. Bichier, C. Gordon, I. Perfecto. 2021. Cascading effects of birds and bats in a shaded coffee agroforestry system. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 27 April, 2021.
  • Iuliano, B., A. Cartmill, S. Davis, A.  Kerr, I.  Perfecto. 2021 Human Dimensions: Agroecology for just and sustainable food systems. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 102 (3): e01871.
  • Davies et al.,…  I. Perfecto, ...  (157 authors). 2021. Forest GEO: Understanding forest diversity and dynamics through a global observatory network. Biological Conservation 253, 108907.
  • Vandermeer, J., Z. Hajian-Forooshani, N. Medina and I. Perfecto. 2021.  New forms of structure in ecosystems revealed with the Kuramoto model. Royal Society Open Science. 8: 210122
  • Schmitt, L. and I. Perfecto. 2021. Coffee leaf litter decomposition: short term home-field advantage in shaded coffee agroecosystems. Applied Soil Ecology 161 May 2021, 103854

View more publications here.

Education

Ph.D. University of Michigan (ecology, natural resources)

M.S. University of Michigan (biology)

B.S. Universidad Sagrado Corazón, Puerto Rico (biology)

Affiliations

Sustainable Food Systems Initiative, University of Michigan

Program in the Environment, University of Michigan

In the News
TFS Fellows
December 13, 2022

Fellowship provides students with learning and training to transform food systems

The Transformative Food Systems (TFS) Fellowship at the University of Michigan (U-M) was created to attract student leaders who reflect the communities that are most...

 Professor Ivette Perfecto highlights the benefits of shaded coffee farms on biodiversity and farmer livelihoods in Latin America
November 11, 2022

Professor Ivette Perfecto highlights the benefits of shaded coffee farms on biodiversity, farmer livelihoods in Latin America

The University of Michigan recently held its fourth talk in the Real-World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions speaker series. Professor Ivette Perfecto of the U-M School...

Faculty Accolades

Faculty Accolades

Professor Paul Mohai was appointed senior policy adviser at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He joined the Office of Environmental Justice as an expert on...

Ivette Perfecto
May 4, 2022

Perfecto elected to National Academy of Sciences

Ivette Perfecto (MS ’82, PhD ’89), the James E. Crowfoot Collegiate Professor of Environmental Justice at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), has...

Ember Bradbury
April 25, 2022

Meet the Future of Ecosystem Science and Management: Ember Bradbury (MS ’22)

Why SEAS? There are multiple reasons why Ember Bradbury (MS ’22) chose to pursue her MS at SEAS, but one reason that rose to the top was the breadth of coursework that...

More Than $1M to Support Transformative Food Systems Fellowship at University of Michigan
September 8, 2021

More Than $1M to Support Transformative Food Systems Fellowship at University of Michigan

A new interdisciplinary fellowship in partnership with the University of Michigan Sustainable Food Systems Initiative will assist an incoming group of master’s degree...

Women's history month
March 3, 2022

Women’s History Month: Perspectives from SEAS Women in Sustainability

In honor of Women’s History Month, we asked our women faculty and researchers to share their perspectives as members of the sustainability field and to offer advice to...

Guardians of the Forest
February 1, 2021

Gala Learning Case: Guardians of the Forests

How should an indigenous community in eastern Bolivia defend their land and forests? That question is the focus of a case study by SEAS Professors Ivette Perfecto and...

In the Media
05/04/2022
Ivette Perfecto
Two faculty members elected to National Academy of Sciences (University Record)
11/09/2021
Ivette Perfecto
Coffee as we know it is in danger. Can we breed a better cup? (Vox)
03/01/2020
Ivette Perfecto
John Vandermeer
Could an Invasive Snail Save Your Morning Coffee?
01/01/2020
Ivette Perfecto
John Vandermeer
Puerto Rico earthquake and aftermath: U-M experts can discuss
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