Moria Robinson
Biology
Assistant Professor

Contact Information
Office Location: LSB 326Phone: (435) 797-1576
Email: moria.robinson@usu.edu
Additional Information:
Awards
Mentor of the Year, 2026
College of Arts and Sciences
Mentor of the Year, 2026
Department of Biology
Publications | Fact Sheets
- Robinson, M., (2025). The Secrets in Rabbitbrush: Common caterpillars and other insect residents of a Foundational Western Plant. *
- Robinson, M., (2025). What's on that Plant? The Hidden Residents of Utah Flora. *
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Journal Articles
Academic Journal
- Robinson, M.L, (2023). Macroevolution of protective coloration across caterpillars reflects relationships with host plants. Proceedings of the Royal Society, B.
- Robinson, M.L, (2023). Plant size, latitude, and phylogeny explain within-population variability in herbivory. Science
- Robinson, M.L, (2022). A domestic plant differs from its wild relative along multiple axes of within‐plant trait variability and diversity. Ecology and Evolution
- Robinson, M.L, (2020). Generalists are more specialized in low-resource habitats, increasing stability of ecological network structure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Robinson, M., (2019). Plant trait covariance and nonlinear averaging: a reply to Koussoroplis et al.. Rethinking Ecology
- Robinson, M.L, (2018). Cascading effects of soil type on assemblage size and structure in a diverse herbivore community. Ecology
- Robinson, M., (2018). The sticky fruit of manzanita: potential functions beyond epizoochory. Ecology
- Robinson, M., (2018). Entrapped sand as a plant defence: effects on herbivore performance and preference. Ecological Entomology, 43:2, 154-161. doi: 10.1111/een.12483
- Robinson, M., (2016). The natural history supplement: furthering natural history amongst ecologists and evolutionary biologists. The Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America
- Robinson, M., (2016). Variability in plant nutrients reduces insect herbivore performance. Nature, 539:7629, 425-427. doi: 10.1038/nature20140
- Robinson, M., Pardikes, N., (2012). Novel insights into tritrophic interaction diversity and chemical ecology using 16 years of volunteer supported research. American Entomologist
- Robinson, M.L, (2011). Outbreak of Eacles imperialis (Saturniidae) on Cocoa and Fruit Trees in Milagro—Ecuador. The Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Other
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Teaching
BIOL 6780 - Community Ecology: Concepts and Tools in R, Spring 2026
BIOL 3085 - Ecology Laboratory (CI), Fall 2025
BIOL 3085 - Ecology Laboratory (CI), Fall 2025
BIOL 3085 - Ecology Laboratory (CI), Fall 2024
BIOL 3085 - Ecology Laboratory (CI), Fall 2024
BIOL 4750, 6750 - Topics in Biology: The Ecology and Evolution of Plant-Animal Interactions, Spring 2024
BIOL 3085 - Ecology Laboratory, Fall 2023
BIOL 3085 - Ecology Laboratory, Fall 2023
Graduate Students Mentored
Emily Burgess, October 2024
Anna Goates, August 2024
Jakob Palmer, August 2023
Mia Stevens, August 2023
Ryan Stuart, August 2023