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Team

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Magda Garbowski, PhD (PI)

Magda is an assistant professor in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences at New Mexico State University. Magda's research centers on using trait-based approaches to understanding how individuals, communities, and ecosystems respond to global change and then applying this knowledge to land management. Prior to joining NMSU in January 2024,  Magda was a Baker postdoctoral fellow and member of the Gornish Lab at the University of Arizona, a USDA-NIFA postdoctoral fellow in the Laughlin Lab at the University of Wyoming (2022 - 2023), and a postdoctoral researcher with the Physiological Diversity Group at the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (2021). She received her MS (2016) and PhD (2020) from Colorado State University through the Brown Lab. In her spare time, Magda likes to hike, bike, bake botany-inspired cakes and cookies, and hang out with her family.  

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Justine Henio (MS Student)  

Justine is an MS student originally from Northern New Mexico. As a Navajo, she has a deep-rooted connection to the land. She loves spending time outdoors fishing, hiking, camping, and practicing archery, which has strengthened her appreciation for nature and the agriculture industry. She is passionate about restoration ecology because it allows her to help restore and protect the lands that sustain people, wildlife, and livestock. For her, restoration is more than just science but a way to give back to the land and ensure its health for future generations to come. 

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Ashal Shrestha (PhD Student)  

Ashal is originally from Nepal, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Forestry science. Before coming to the United States, he worked closely with community forest user groups on sustainable forest management. He completed his M.S. in Natural Sciences at New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM. His master’s research focused on evaluating efficacy of seeding treatments in high-burn severity wildfire scars to restore the ground cover and stabilize the soil. Currently, he is assessing how plant functional traits shape population and community assembly and synchrony in response to top-down (i.e., herbivory) and bottom-up (i.e., nutrients) drivers along gradients of environmental variability. He will integrate trait data from 11 different Nutrient Network sites across the United States with over 10 years of data on population and community change to address his research questions. He believes that understanding plant functional traits is the key in predicting ecosystem trajectories. Outside of research, Ashal loves going on long-highway trips and trying new foods everywhere he goes. 

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Liz Plazewski (MS Student)  

Liz comes from the swamps of Florida and completed their Interdisciplinary B.S. In Life Science & Arts from the University of Central Florida. After completing their undergraduate degree, Liz went on to do landscape monitoring in New Mexico, California, Nevada, and Colorado. Liz also was contracted as the Botanist for the Las Cruces Bureau of Land Management for two years. After years of working in management of the Chihuahuan Desert, the dire need for ecological restoration of this landscape spoke to Liz. The desert landscape is both fragile and resilient and needs some TLC to help restore it to and maintain its most healthy state. Liz is so excited for this opportunity in the Functional and Restoration Ecology Lab to research ways to make this happen! Liz is specifically working on Agave restoration in the bootheel of the state, helping to reestablish migratory corridors for nectar feeding bats. 

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Manish Acharya (PhD Student)  

Manish comes from Nepal where he completed his Bachelor's in Forestry Science. After his undergraduate he worked in erosion control and watershed restoration through bio-engineering approaches for over six year. Manish completed his MS in Water Science and Management from NMSU where he studied the effects of stream restoration on channel geometry and hydraulic roughness in Canjilon creek of Northern New Mexico. For his PhD, Manish will work with the FARE lab as well as Dr. Geli’s lab to study how forest management affects understory vegetation, hydrology, and watershed function as part of the state-wide FOR-NM project. In his free time, Manish enjoys watching movies and exploring new places.  

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Sophia Goss (MS Student)  

Sophia received her B.A. in International Relations from Lake Forest College in 2017 and quickly dove into botany work after graduating. She is an MS student researching how functional traits shape community assembly post herbicide treatments in southern New Mexico. Her research aims to advance understanding of how functional traits respond to disturbance and shape restoration outcomes. Outside of restoration and botany, she loves to bike, knit, read, and take naps with her cats.  

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Bella Johnson (Researcher)

Bella is from Flagstaff, Arizona, and received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Northern Arizona University and defended her Master's in the lab in summer 2026. She is now working on synthesis research to understand how forest understories respond to managementment. In her spare time, Bella loves to hike, spend time in the natural world, and express herself through songwriting/singing. 

Former lab members: 

  • Eron Schulte (MS, 2026) 
  • Summer Vazquez (undergraduate, 2025)