Tomback Earns Prestigious AAAS Honor for Conservation Biology and Forest Ecology
The American Association for the Advancement of Science has named Diana Tomback, CU Denver professor and recent interim chair of the Department of Integrative Biology, a AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to the field of conservation biology and forest ecology.
Of the 502 scientists recognized this year, Tomback is one of three from Colorado and the first ever CU Denver faculty member to receive the lifetime honor from AAAS. Five faculty from CU Anschutz have earned the recognition previously: Rajesh Agarwal (2009), John Carpenter (2009), Katheleen Gardiner (2018), Michael Dougherty (2020), and Wendy Macklin (2020).
Tomback has served on the CU Denver faculty since 1981 and has more than 43 years of research, scholarship, teaching, community engagement, and leadership in forest ecology, avian ecology, and conservation biology. She gained acclaim in the 1970s for discovering that whitebark pine depends on Clark’s nutcracker bird for seed dispersal, revealing the nutcracker’s critical role in forest regeneration. Tomback spent a decade on an inter-agency research team with the U.S. Forest Service that has studied why whitebark pine was declining in the Rocky Mountains.
The tree has been in decline since a disease was inadvertently introduced to North America in the early 1900s. More recently, outbreaks of mountain pine beetles and changes to wildfire size and severity driven by climate change have further devastated the whitebark population.
Tomback’s research has helped us better understand how the whitebark pine is a critical part of high-elevation ecosystems in the western United States and Canada. “Whitebark pine is a high-elevation species that protects watersheds,” Tomback said. “Its large seeds are also used by grizzly bears prior to hibernation and a variety of other wildlife. So, it is at the center of a web of life. It has very little natural resistance to disease—the average is probably about 5%—so we are working with resistant trees. They are the future for restoration.”
Her work—at the intersection of forest and avian ecology—was crucial to landing whitebark pine protection as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 2023, and her work continues to play an important role in conservation efforts for the tree. She was a founding member of the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation, served 17 years as its director, and is now the foundation’s policy and outreach coordinator; she is also on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Whitebark Pine Recovery Team and helping to draft the recovery plan.
Elsewhere in her career, Tomback has been named a fellow of the American Ornithological Society, a Charles Bullard Fellow at Harvard Forest, and a senior ecologist for the Ecological Society of America. She’s done research projects at Glacier National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Banff National Park and Willmore Wilderness Park in Canada, and has an active project at Yellowstone National Park. She also plays a role in the reintroduction of wolves in Colorado by serving on a nonprofit board that helps ranchers.
She said she enjoys working with students, and they have contributed much to her research. “I’ve been privileged to work with some great students who’ve gone on to do good things, including working for nonprofits and for federal agencies,” Tomback said. “I think the lab is like a family, so that’s important. … It’s a nice balance, teaching, working with students and working in the field.”
AAAS Fellows help plan sessions at the organization’s annual meetings, where members confront big issues facing the field of science and plan how to raise those issues with important stakeholders, such as Congress. “My whole career has been at the interface of research and advocacy,” said Tomback. “I hope that as research becomes more important at CU Denver, more people are recognized for their contributions,” she said. “I care deeply about CU Denver and its success. I feel that CU Denver has an important future as the premier public urban research university in Colorado.”
The AAAS Fellows Program, which dates back to 1874, is celebrating its 150th year. Early honorees include Thomas Edison and W.E.B DuBois. Fellows will be celebrated at the AAAS Fellows Forum on Sept. 21 in Washington, D.C., at the National Building Museum.
Written by Matt Watson, University Communications