I am a PhD candidate in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department at Cornell University. My research interests are at intersection of plant community ecology, disease ecology, and land stewardship including ecological restoration and prescribed and cultural fire.

New book chapter on Good Fire coming soon (Spring 2026)!

Reclaiming Good Fire: Restoration and Resilience in Haudenosaunee and Shinnecock Territories. 
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Authors: Kelsey Leonard* (Shinnecock), Adam Gelfand, G. Peter Jemison (Seneca), Josephine Smith (Shinnecock), Jason Corwin (Seneca), Sunshine Gumbs (Shinnecock), Abraham Francis (Mohawk), Jasmine Peters, Gabriel Rosenstein, Alex C. McAlvay. in Landkeeping: Restoring Indigenous Fire Stewardship and Ecological Partnerships. Edited by Jared Aldern and Theresa Gregor. Oregon State University Press. 

Recent publications (get in touch for a pdf copy)

Peters JS, Aguirre BA, DiPaola A, Power AG. 2022. Ecology of Yellow Dwarf Viruses in Crops and Grasslands: Interactions in the Context of Climate Change. Annu Rev Phytopathol. 60(1):283–305. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-phyto-020620-101848 ​
Lombardi EM, Peters J, Jacob L, Power AG. 2023. Wild and weedy Hesperis matronalis hosts turnip mosaic virus across heterogeneous landscapes in upstate New York. Virus Research. 323:199011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2022.199011

Ongoing research

​The effect of prescribed burns on viral plant pathogen prevalence and host response in native prairie grasses: a common garden study.
I am conducting a large scale, long term common garden experiment to understand plant community and disease ecology dynamics in eastern tallgrass prairie communities. I am using regionally sourced ecotypes of native prairie grasses including big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans).
I am interested in determining if these native grasses are susceptible to the widespread and economically damaging grain crop pathogen barley yellow dwarf virus. I am also focused on determining how ecological restoration and land management practices like prescribed burns and seed provenance may interact with viral pathogen prevalence and plant community resilience. 

Poster: Crop-associated virus dynamics in remnant and restored native grasslands in New York State

Presented at 2022 Ecological Society of America Conference (Montreal, Canada) and awarded 2nd Place in the Restoration Poster Contest.

Poster: 2023 Florida Native Plant Society Conference

Jasmine Star Peters, M.S.
​Research Fellow | Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology | Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850
​[email protected]
​jasminestar.weebly.com