Steven D. Allison

Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Professor, Earth System Science (adjunct)

Biography

Steven D. Allison, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and adjunct in Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. Allison studies the functional roles of microbes in ecosystems, using theory, experiments, and mathematical models to analyze microbial feedbacks to environmental change and the consequences for life on Earth. His research spans field sites across California and globally, including tropical rainforests in Australia, boreal forests in Alaska, and grasslands in Southern California.

Allison is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the Ecological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics from 2017 to 2022. Allison received a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University.

Allison has published over 170 peer-reviewed articles and has been principal investigator on grants totaling over $10 million from agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and Schmidt Sciences. He directs the Newkirk Center for Science & Society at UC Irvine and serves as a Commissioner on the City of Irvine Sustainability Commission. Allison has trained 10 Ph.D. students and 16 postdoctoral scholars.

Education

B.S. in Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 1999
Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, Stanford University, 2005

Distinctions

Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2022
Fellow, Ecological Society of America, 2024
Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate Analytics, 2017-2022
Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology, 2025
Early Career Fellow, Ecological Society of America, 2013-2017
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2000-2002
Morris K. Udall Scholarship for Excellence in Environmental Public Policy, 1998
Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring, 2021
Outstanding Student Paper Award, AGU Fall Meeting, 2005
NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2005-2007

Areas of Expertise

Soil Microbial Ecology
Extracellular Enzyme Kinetics
Litter Decomposition Dynamics
Carbon Cycling Feedbacks
Microbial Trait Evolution
Drought Response Mechanisms
Biogeochemical Modeling

Recent Publications

H. W. Xie, D. Sujono, T. Ryder, E. B. Sudderth, S. D. Allison, “A Framework for Variational Inference and Data Assimilation of Soil Biogeochemical Models Using Normalizing Flows” (opens in new tab), Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, vol. 17, pp. e2024MS004547, 2025.
R. J. Hill, M. A. Djokic, A. Anderson, K. Barbour, A. M. Coleman, A. D. Guerra, C. Hunt, A. Jolly, J. J. Long, K. T. Manley, J. L. Montoya, C. A. Norlen, A. Nugent-Suratt, K. Washburn, S. Weber, A. Welch, C. Wong, S. D. Allison, “From Ridge 2 Reef: An interdisciplinary model for training the next generation of environmental problem solvers” (opens in new tab), PLOS ONE, vol. 19, pp. e0314755, 2024.
A. Suratt, K. Behl, W. L. Hong, Y. E. Yoon, S. D. Allison, “Characterizing suburban soil and microbial properties along a soil age chronosequence” (opens in new tab), Ecosphere, vol. 15, pp. e70111, 2024.
A. A. Malik, J. B. H. Martiny, A. Ribeiro, P. O. Sheridan, C. Weihe, E. L. Brodie, S. D. Allison, “Bacterial population-level trade-offs between drought tolerance and resource acquisition traits impact decomposition” (opens in new tab), The ISME Journal, vol. 18, pp. wrae224, 2024.
B. L. Bertolet, L. Chavez Rodriguez, J. M. Murúa, A. Favela, S. D. Allison, “The Impact of Microbial Interactions on Ecosystem Function Intensifies Under Stress” (opens in new tab), Ecology Letters, vol. 27, pp. e14528, 2024.
E. Abs, D. Coulette, P. Ciais, S. D. Allison, “Microbial Evolution Drives Adaptation of Substrate Degradation on Decadal to Centennial Time Scales Relevant to Global Change” (opens in new tab), Ecology Letters, vol. 27, pp. e14530, 2024.
S. J. Law, S. D. Allison, A. B. Davies, H. Flores-Moreno, B. J. Wijas, A. R. Yatsko, Y. Zhou, A. E. Zanne, P. Eggleton, “The challenge of estimating global termite methane emissions” (opens in new tab), Global Change Biology, vol. 30, pp. e17390, 2024.
E. S. Duan, L. Chavez Rodriguez, N. Hemming-Schroeder, B. Wijas, H. Flores-Moreno, A. W. Cheesman, L. A. Cernusak, M. J. Liddell, P. Eggleton, A. E. Zanne, S. D. Allison, “Climate-based prediction of carbon fluxes from deadwood in Australia” (opens in new tab), Biogeosciences, vol. 21, pp. 3321–3338, 2024.
Anthony, W. E., S. D. Allison, C. M. Broderick, L. Chavez Rodriguez, A. Clum, H. Cross, E. Eloe-Fadrosh, S. Evans, D. Fairbanks, R. Gallery, J. B. Gontijo, J. Jones, J. McDermott, J. Pett-Ridge, S. Record, J. L. M. Rodrigues, W. Rodriguez-Reillo, K. L. Shek, T. Takacs-Vesbach, J. L. Blanchard, “From soil to sequence: filling the critical gap in genome-resolved metagenomics is essential to the future of soil microbial ecology” (opens in new tab), Environmental Microbiome, vol. 19, pp. 56, 2024.
Piton, G., S. D. Allison, M. Bahram, F. Hildebrand, J. B. H. Martiny, K. K. Treseder, A. C. Martiny, “Reply to: Microbial dark matter could add uncertainties to metagenomic trait estimations” (opens in new tab), Nature Microbiology, vol. 9, pp. 1431–1433, 2024.
Sorouri, B., N. C. Scales, B. S. Gaut, S. D. Allison, “Sphingomonas clade and functional distribution with simulated climate change” (opens in new tab), Microbiology Spectrum, vol. 0, pp. e00236-24, 2024.
Abs, E., A. B. Chase, S. Manzoni, P. Ciais, S. D. Allison, “Microbial evolution—An under-appreciated driver of soil carbon cycling” (opens in new tab), Global Change Biology, vol. 30, pp. e17268, 2024.
Abs, E., M. B. N. Albright, S. D. Allison, “Invasions eliminate the legacy effects of substrate history on microbial nitrogen cycling” (opens in new tab), Ecosphere, vol. 15, pp. e4754, 2024.
Kimball, S., J. Rath, J. Coffey, M. Perea-Vega, M. Walsh, N. M. Fiore, P. Ta, K. T. Schmidt, M. L. Goulden, S. D. Allison, “Long-term drought promotes invasive species by reducing wildfire severity” (opens in new tab), Ecology, vol. 105, pp. e4265, 2024.
Chavez Rodriguez, L., S. Parker, N. M. Fiore, S. D. Allison, M. L. Goulden, “Impact of Drought on Ecohydrology of Southern California Grassland and Shrubland” (opens in new tab), Ecosystems, vol. 27, pp. 106-121, 2024.
Piton, G., S. D. Allison, M. Bahram, F. Hildebrand, J. B. H. Martiny, K. K. Treseder, A. C. Martiny, “Life history strategies of soil bacterial communities across global terrestrial biomes” (opens in new tab), Nature Microbiology, vol. 8, pp. 2093–2102, 2023.
Martiny, J. B. H., A. C. Martiny, E. Brodie, A. B. Chase, A. Rodríguez-Verdugo, K. K. Treseder, S. D. Allison, “Investigating the eco-evolutionary response of microbiomes to environmental change” (opens in new tab), Ecology Letters, vol. 26, pp. S81-S90, 2023.
Allison, S. D., “Microbial drought resistance may destabilize soil carbon” (opens in new tab), Trends in Microbiology, vol. 31, pp. 780-787, 2023.
Hemming-Schroeder, N. M., A. A. Gutierrez, S. D. Allison, J. T. Randerson, “Estimating Individual Tree Mortality in the Sierra Nevada Using Lidar and Multispectral Reflectance Data” (opens in new tab), Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, vol. 128, pp. e2022JG007234, 2023.
Sorouri, B., C. I. Rodriguez, B. S. Gaut, S. D. Allison, “Variation in Sphingomonas traits across habitats and phylogenetic clades” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Microbiology, vol. 14, 2023.

Most Cited Publications

S. D. Allison, J. B. H. Martiny, “Resistance, resilience, and redundancy in microbial communities” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 105, no. Suppl. 1, pp. 11512-11519, 2008.
S. D. Allison, M. D. Wallenstein, M. A. Bradford, “Soil-carbon response to warming dependent on microbial physiology” (opens in new tab), Nature Geoscience, vol. 3, pp. 336-340, 2010.
Allison, S. D., P. M. Vitousek, “Responses of extracellular enzymes to simple and complex nutrient inputs” (opens in new tab), Soil Biology and Biochemistry, vol. 37, pp. 937-944, 2005.
D. P. German, M. N. Weintraub, A. S. Grandy, C. L. Lauber, Z. L. Rinkes, S. D. Allison, “Optimization of extracellular enzyme assay methods for ecosystem studies” (opens in new tab), Soil Biology and Biochemistry, vol. 43, pp. 1387-1397, 2011.
A. A. Malik, J. B. Martiny, E. L. Brodie, A. C. Martiny, K. K. Treseder, S. D. Allison, “Defining trait-based microbial strategies with consequences for soil carbon cycling under climate change” (opens in new tab), ISME Journal, vol. 14, pp. 1-9, 2020.
W. R. Wieder, G. B. Bonan, S. D. Allison, “Global soil carbon predictions are improved by modelling microbial processes” (opens in new tab), Nature Climate Change, vol. 3, pp. 909-912, 2013.
J. B. H. Martiny, J. A. Eisen, K. Penn, S. D. Allison, M. C. Horner-Devine, “Drivers of bacterial β-diversity depend on spatial scale” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 108, pp. 7850-7854, 2011.
K. E. O. Todd-Brown, J. T. Randerson, W. M. Post, F. M. Hoffman, C. Tarnocai, E. A. G. Schuur, S. D. Allison, “Causes of variation in soil carbon simulations from CMIP5 Earth system models and comparison with observations” (opens in new tab), Biogeosciences, vol. 10, pp. 1717-1736, 2013.
S. D. Allison, K. K. Treseder, “Warming and drying suppress microbial activity and carbon cycling in boreal forest soils” (opens in new tab), Global Change Biology, vol. 14, pp. 2898-2909, 2008.
J. M. Talbot, S. D. Allison, K. K. Treseder, “Decomposers in disguise: mycorrhizal fungi as regulators of soil C dynamics in ecosystems under global change” (opens in new tab), Functional Ecology, vol. 22, pp. 955-963, 2008.

Contact Information

Website: https://allisonlab.bio.uci.edu

Email: allisons@uci.edu

Phone: (949) 824-2341

Address: 3108 Biological Sciences III, Irvine, CA 92697-2525

This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 2/17/2026.