Jacob Zeldin, Ph.D.

Jacob Zeldin headshot
Conservation Scientist – Natural Areas Ecology and David Byron Smith Family Curator of Natural Areas
Phone:
(847) 242-6443
Curriculum Vitae:
Selected Professional Associations:
  • Ecological Society of America
Research Interests:
  • Functional ecology
  • Plant community ecology
  • Restoration ecology
  • Rare and threatened plant conservation
  • Plant tissue culture
  • Data analysis and visualization 
Statement:

I am a conservation scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden with a research focus on functional traits and biodiversity in plant communities, rare species conservation, and the impacts of management in remnant and restored natural areas. I work closely with the Chicago Botanic Garden Natural Areas team and collaborators in the Chicago region to develop natural history inventories, identify management challenges, and develop solutions through ecological research. My active research projects include investigating trait variation in prairie plant species and its impacts on community dynamics, leveraging long-term ecological monitoring data to understand changes in restored oak woodlands, and working with partners at the Forest Preserves of Cook County and the Midwest Native Seed Network to address critical bottlenecks in the availability of native seed for restoration in the Midwest. I also manage a micropropagation program focusing on developing tissue culture techniques to assist in the conservation and reintroduction of rare and threatened plant species. 

Selected Publications:
  • Zeldin, J., Dethlefs, T., Caeiro, S., Puga, D., Kramer, A, 2025, Intraspecific functional trait variation and coordination in Schizachyrium scoparium. Ecology and Evolution, 15, no. 7: e71635.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71635.
  • Foxx, A. J., Arango-Caro, S., Bever, J. D., Brown, K. E., Callis-Duehl, K. L., Egerton-Warburton, L., Fahlgren, N., Gehan, M., Hanlon, M., Kaggwa, R. J., Kramer, A., Langewisch, T., McKenna, T., Rquibi, L., Sikes, B., Krug, A. S., Stylianou, A., van der Pol, L., Vogel, L., Zeldin, J., … Miller, A. (2026). New Roots for Restoration: Building a foundation for interdisciplinary work in plant organismal biology and ecology to advance restoration in natural and agricultural ecosystems. Plants, People, Planet, 8(2), 580–591.https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70096
  • De Vitis, M., Havens, K., MacKechnie, L., Zeldin, J. and Kramer, A.T. (2026), Seed pretreatment length when producing seeds for restoration may impact seed dormancy in offspring. Restoration Ecology, 34: e70300. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.70300
  • Li, B., Fant, J., Zeldin, J., Skogen, K., Havens, K., 2023, Genetic and Floral Trait Changes in Oenothera organensis (Onagraceae) during Long-Term Ex Situ Cultivation. International Journal of Plant Sciences; 184:4, 237-251
  • Philpott, M., Pence, V. C., Bassüner, B., Clayton, A. S., Coffey, E. E. D., Downing, J. L., Edwards, C. E., Folgado, R., Ligon, J., Powell, C., Ree, J. F., Seglias, A. E., Sugii, N. Zale, P. J., Zeldin, J., 2022. Harnessing the power of botanical gardens: evaluating the costs and resources needed for exceptional plant conservation. Applications in Plant Sciences; 10(5): e11495
  • De Vitis, M., Havens, K., Barak, R. S., Egerton-Warburton, L., Ernst, A. R., Evans, M., Fant, J. B., Foxx, A. J., Hadley, K., Jabcon, J., O’Shaughnessey, J., Ramakrishna, S., Sollenberger, D., Taddeo, S., Urbina-Casanova, R., Woolridge, C., Xu, L., Zeldin, J., & Kramer, A. T. 2022. Why are some plant species missing from restorations? A diagnostic tool for temperate grassland ecosystems. Front. Conserv. Sci. 3:1028295. doi: 10.3389/fcosc.2022.1028295
  • Lamb, N., Havens, K., Holloway, J., Steffen, J. F., Zeldin, J., & Kramer, A. T. 2021. Low passive restoration potential following invasive woody species removal in oak woodlands. Restoration Ecology; 30(4)
  • Zeldin, J., Lichtenberger, T., Foxx, A., Williams, E., and Kramer, A. 2020 Intraspecific functional trait structure of restoration-relevant species: implications for restoration seed sourcing. Journal of Applied Ecology; 57:864–874
  • Kildisheva, O., Kramer, A.T., Erickson, T., Zeldin, J., and Merrit, D. 2019, Optimizing physiological dormancy break of understudied cold desert perennials to improve seed-based restoration. Journal of Arid Environments; 170, 104001
  • Kramer, A.T., Crane, B., Downing, J., Hamrick, J.L., Havens, K., Highland, A., Jacobi, S. K., Kaye, T. N., Lonsdorf, E. V., Ramp Neale, J. , Novy, A. , Smouse, P. E., Tallamy, D. W., White, A. and Zeldin, J. 2019, Sourcing native plants to support ecosystem function in different planting contexts. Restoration Ecology; 27: 470-476