Research

Phenology, uncertainty, and the models that connect them.

My research spans ecology, evolution, and ecophysiology. I study the role that time and uncertainty play in shaping plant responses to the environment. In particular, I focus on phenology, the timing of annually recurring life-history events like growth, maturation, reproduction, and dispersal.

I view phenology as a unifying concept in ecology and evolution which integrates processes across biological scales and taxa, although my ecological and taxonomic expertise is primarily in alpine, arctic tundra, and agricultural plants.

Phenology is an inherently individual and physiological process that can directly impact fitness, demography, and population persistence. At higher levels of organization, variation in phenological plasticity among species generates novel temporal community assemblies under variable environmental conditions. Taken together, these processes may scale to impact land surface and ecosystem phenology with critical implications for water, energy, agriculture, and ecosystem health.

Publications

2026

Divergent regional trends in alpine tundra productivity linked to changes in snow-free season length and summer warming

Moore, M.A., Emery, N. C., and Elmendorf, S. C. Environmental Research: Ecology.

Preprint DOI Full-text

2026

Genetic-environment decomposition reveals geographical disparities in sunflower yield improvement across the Great Plains

Elmendorf, S.C., Hulke, B.S., Clark, E.I., Moore, M.A., Kane, N.C. Field Crops Research.

Details DOI Full-text

2025

Climate drives variation in optimal phenology: 46 years of multi-environment trials in sunflower

Clark, E.I., Moore, M.A., Khoury, C.K., Hulke, B.S., Kane, N.C. and Elmendorf, S.C. New Phytologist.

Details DOI Full-text

Accepted

In-situ soil moisture and active layer thickness in Alaska and Northwestern Canada, 2005-2024

Moore, M.A.\(^{†}\), Hoy, E. E.\(^{†}\), Clayton, L. K., Schaefer, K., Bourgeau-Chavez, L. L., et al (\(^{†}\)Joint first authors). Scientific Data.

In Review

Forty-six years of sunflower multi-environment trials in the Great Plains

Elmendorf, S.C., Hulke, B.S., …, Clark, E.I., Moore, M.A., …, Kane, N.C

In Review

Scale- and stage-dependent effects of temperature, light, and urbanization on barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) breeding performance and nestling development

Garcia, S.R., Laubach, Z.M., Keller, K.P., Moore, M.A., Meredith Joy, I.J., Safran, R.J

In Review

Genetic control of phenology and phenological plasticity are decoupled in cultivated sunflower

Innes P., McNellie, J.P., Clark, E.I., Moore, M.A., Keepers, K.G., Elmendorf, S.C., Hulke, B.S., & Kane, N.C

Presentations

  • Moore, M.A., Hulke, B.S., Kane, N.C., & Elmendorf, S.C. (2026). High-performance computing enabled generative models of flowering time in cultivated sunflower. Department of Energy Compuational Science Graduate Fellowship: Annual Program Review. Washington, D.C.

  • Moore, M.A., Hoy, E. E., Griffith, P. C., Schaefer, K. M., & Bourgeau-Chavez, L. L. (2023). From Field to Air: Integrating Field Data in Support of the ABoVE Airborne Campaign. 2023, B31B-08. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023AGUFM.B31B..08M

Datasets

  • Moore, M.A., K. Schaefer, L.K. Clayton, E.E. Hoy, M. Auclair, K. Bakian-Dogaheh, M.J. Battaglia, K. Bennett, W.R. Bolton, L.L. Bourgeau-Chavez, … Y. Zhao, and S. Zwieback. (2025). ABoVE: Soil Moisture and Active Layer Thickness in Alaska, USA and Canada, 2005-2022. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2369

  • White, C. T., Morse, J. F., Brandes, H., Chowanski, K., Kittel, T., Losleben, M., & Moore, M. A. (2025). Homogenized, gap-filled, daily air temperature data for Saddle, 1986—Ongoing. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/49a2171ec028c4ddef298752bc9ebe8d

  • White, C. T., Morse, J. F., Brandes, H., Chowanski, K., Kittel, T., Williams, M., Losleben, M., & Moore, M. A. (2025). Infilled daily precipitation data for Saddle, 1981—Ongoing. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/8caa444276521b797e4a16485dc0e137

  • Kittel, T., White, C., Hartman, M., Chowanski, K., Ackerman, T., Williams, M., Losleben, M., & Moore, M. A. (202a). Infilled daily air temperature data for C1 chart recorder, 1952—Ongoing. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/0b4f8747ea72258e46681bb511c262f3

  • Kittel, T., White, C., Hartman, M., Chowanski, K., Ackerman, T., Williams, M., Losleben, M., & Moore, M. A. (2025). Infilled daily air temperature data for D1 chart recorder, 1952—Ongoing. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/b05689181c21ac40d35b6c1c01e2f8a

  • Kittel, T., White, C., Hartman, M., Chowanski, K., Ackerman, T., Williams, M., Losleben, M., & Moore, M. A. (2025). Infilled daily precipitation data for C1 chart recorder, 1952—Ongoing. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/5f896d7d1eb19649ee2ff9fca7166160

  • Kittel, T., White, C., Hartman, M., Chowanski, K., Ackerman, T., Williams, M., Losleben, M., & Moore, M. A. (2025). Infilled daily precipitation data for D1 chart recorder, 1952—Ongoing. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/02b125f7d0dc87a6d40e6ca7001471ce

  • Moore, M.A., Orellana-Soto,M.E., Hartman,N.R. and Kane,N.C. (2024). Helianthus agrestis isolate USDA PI 673199 cultivar PI 468416 chloroplast, complete genome. NCBI Nucleotide. Accession NC_086875.1. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/NC_086875.1