Moria Robinson

Biology

Assistant Professor


Moria Robinson

Contact Information

Office Location: LSB 326
Phone: (435) 797-1576
Email: moria.robinson@usu.edu
Additional Information:

Educational Background

PhD, Population Biology, University of California, Davis, 2017
BS, Biology, Middlebury College, 2011

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An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.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