Education

• 2007- Postdoctoral training at IFEVA/CONICET- Faculty of Agronomy. University of Buenos Aires.
• 2004- PhD in Ecology. Faculty of Agronomy. University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 1995- BSc in Biology. Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences. University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Current positions

• CONICET- Research Scientist. Tenure track position. Institute for Agricultural Plant Physiology and Ecology. Argentine Research Council (IFEVA/CONICET). Since 2007. See Website
• UBA- Associate Professor of Ecology and Biodiversity. Ecology Department. Faculty of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires. Since 2005.
• EPG-FAUBA- Director of the Master´s Program in Natural Resources, Graduate School Faculty of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires. Since 2017. 
• AsAE- President of the Ecological Society of Argentina (Asociación Argentina de Ecología; AsAE). Since 2022. See Website

Awards and honors

• ILTER 3rd Open Science Meeting. Invited Plenary Speaker. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• 2023- Visiting Scholar, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research, WSL, Birmesdorf, Switzerland.
• 2021- Journal of Vegetation Science Editors’ Awards for the Paper: Light limitation and plant quality modulate plant biomass responses to grazing and fertilization in a mesic grassland.
• 2017- Visiting Scholar. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
• 2016; 2018- Visiting Scholar. School of Life Science. Arizona State University. USA.
• 2010- Visiting Scholar, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. University of California Berkeley. USA.

Leadership positions

• 2022- President of the Ecological Society of Argentina.
• 2020- Arizona State University, School of Life Science. Adjunct Faculty member.
• 2018- Member Global Drylands Center, Arizona State University. Center Affiliates.
• 2015- The Drought Network. Member of the Steering Committee. RCN: Drought-Net.
• 2017- BIODESERT (global network on Desertification), Principal investigator of 3 experimental sites in Patagonia Argentina.
• 2012- The Nutrient Network (global network on nutrients and herbivores), Pi of the experimental site “Las Chilcas”, Flooding Pampa, Argentina.
• 2024- SPUN Science Associate. International group of mycorrhizal and soil scientists and local experts who are unearthing the mysteries of underground ecosystems.

Publications in refereed journals (last 5 years)
Total: 81 publications; H Index 36, Total citations 7697 as 12/25

• Yahdjian L., Campana S., Tognetti P., Alberti J., Graff P., Molina C., Borer E., Seabloom E., Prober S., Mac Dougall A., Risch A.C., Power S. ….NutNet CONSORTIUM. 2025. Insights on global rangeland ecosystem services shaped by grazing and fertilization. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment DOI:10.1002/fee.70022 (in press).
• Biancari L., Oñatibia G., Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y., Gross N., Yahdjian L., Aguiar M., ….& Maestre F. 2025. Plant diversity enhances ecosystem resistance to increasing grazing pressure in global drylands. Nature Ecology & Evolution (in press; Member of the core group of authors).
• Rahmanian S., Eisenhauer N., Huang Y., Hejda M., Pyšek P., Feilhauer H., Delgado-Baquerizo M., Gross N., Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y., Saiz H., Berdugo M., Gozalo B., Ochoa V, ,,,,Yahdjian L …..Biodesert CONSORTIUM & Maestre F. 2025. Abiotic and biotic controls of non-native perennial plant success in drylands. Nature Ecology & Evolution (in press).
• Worthy S.J., Luong J.C., Wainwright B-E., Aguiñaga J., Auge H., Barcu A.C., Batbaatar A. Yahdjian L …..DroughtNet CONSORTIUM &Funk. 2025. Growth form and lifespan of herbaceous species mediate the role of traits in short-term drought response. Nature Ecology & Evolution (in press).
• Ravetta M.*, Bondaruk V., Oñatibia G.R., Loydi A., Pascual J., Peri P., Peter G., Oliva G., Ferrante D., Bruschetti C., Daleo P., Aguero W., Yahdjian L. 2025. Drought and plant invasions along an aridity gradient. Journal of Vegetation Science e70084. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.70084 
• Ohlert T,, Smith M.D., Collins S.L., Knapp A., Dukes J, Munson S, Anderson M., Avolio M., … Yahdjian L., DroughtNet CONSORTIUM, & Zuo X. 2025. Drought intensity and duration interact to magnify losses in primary productivity. Science 390,284-289(2025). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ads8144 (Member of the core group of authors).
• Bondaruk V.*, Xu C., Wilfahrt P., Yahdjian L., Yu Q., Alberti J., … NPKD CONSORTIUM, & Hautier Y. 2025. Aridity modulates grassland biomass responses to combined drought and nutrient addition. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02705-8. 
• Fay P.A^#., Gherardi L.A. ^#, Yahdjian L. ^#, Adler P., Bakker J.D., Bharath S., Borer E.T., Harpole S.W., Hersch‐Green E., Huxman T.E., MacDougall A.S., Risch A.C., Seabloom E.W., NutNet consortium. 2025. Interactions among nutrients govern the global grassland biomass – precipitation relationship. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 (15) e2410748122 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2410748122. #Corresponding authors.
• Smit I. C., le Roux P. C., Soliveres S., Gross N., Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y., Saiz H., … Yahdjian L., BIODESERT CONSORTIUM, & Maestre F. 2025. Plant trait matching occurs in facilitative interactions across global drylands. Global Ecology and Biogeography 34 (11)e70158. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70158 
• Carroll O., Borer E., Seabloom E., Yahdjian L, NutNet CONSORTIUM, & MacDougall A.S. 2025. Frequent failure o. f nutrients to increase plant biomass supports the need for precision fertilization in agriculture. Scientific Reports 15:14564. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-99071-z.
• Wang L., Zhao J., Zhu Y., Li Z., Shi Z., Yang X., Yahdjian L. 2025. Plant invasion risk assessment in Argentina´s arid and semi-arid rangelands. Journal of Environmental Management 377, 124648 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124648.
• Spohn M. Bagchi S, Bakker J, Borer E, Carbutt, Jane A. Catford, Christopher R. Dickman, … Yahdjian L., …, & Seabloom E. 2025. Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands. Communications Biology 8, 97.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07518-w 
• Piñeiro-Guerra J.M*, Lewczuk N., Della Chiesa T., Araujo P.I., Acreche M., Alvarez C., Alvarez C.R., Chalco Vera J., Costantini A., De Tellería J., Petrasek M., Piccinetti C., Picone L., Portela S.I., Posse G., Seijo M., Videla C., Yahdjian L., Piñeiro G. 2025. Spatial variability of nitrous oxide emissions from croplands and unmanaged natural ecosystems across a large environmental gradient. Journal of Environmental Quality 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20663.
• Campana S*., Tognetti P., Alberti J., Graff P., Molina C., Silvoso M. C., Yahdjian L. 2024. The temporal and spatial stability of plant diversity are disconnected from biomass stability in response to human activities in a South American temperate grassland. Science of the Total Environment 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177031.
• Velasco Ayuso S.*, Oñatibia G. R., Yahdjian L. 2024. Soil multifunctionality increases after grazing abandonment in semiarid rangelands. Applied Soil Ecology, Volume 201, 2024, 105522, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105522.
• Biancari L., Aguiar M.R., Eldridge D.J., Oñatibia G.R., Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y., Saiz H., Gross N.,…..Biodesert consortium, Yahdjian L., Zaady E., Maestre F. 2024. Drivers of woody dominance across global drylands, Science Advances 10, eadn6007 (2024). https://10.1126/sciadv.adn6007 .
• Diaz-Martinez P., Maestre F. …Biodesert Consortium…, Yahdjian L., Xiaobing Zhou. 2024. Vulnerability of mineral-protected soil organic carbon to climate in global drylands. Nature Climate Change 14(9); 976-982. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02087-y.
• MacDougall A.S, Esch E,, Chen Q., Carroll O., Bonner C., Ohlert T., Siewart M,, Sulik J., Schweiger A., Borer E.….. Yahdjian L….., NutNet consortium. 2024. Widening global variability in grassland biomass since the 1980s. Nature Ecology & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02500-x.
• Gross N. Maestre F. …Biodesert Consortium…, Yahdjian L., Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y. 2024. Unforeseen plant phenotypic diversity in a dry and grazed world. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07731-3.
• Eldridge D., Dorrough J., Delgado-Baquerizo M., Sala O.E., Gross N.,Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y., Mallen-Cooper M., Saiz H. .,….. Biodesert Consortium, Yahdjian L., Maestre F. 2024, Hotspots of biogeochemical activity linked to aridity and plant traits across global drylands. Nature Plants https://Article doi.org/10.1038/s41477-024-01670-7.
• Sarneel J, Hefting M.M., Sandén T., van den Hoogen J., Routh D. … Yahdjian L. …TeaComposition consortium. 2024. Reading tea leaves worldwide: decoupled drivers of initial litter decomposition mass-loss rate and stabilization. Ecology Letters 2024;27:e14 415. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14415.
• Piazza M.V., Pinto P., Bazzoni B., Berenstecher P., Casas C., López Zieher X., Mallerman J., Méndez M., Omacini M., Piñeiro G., Semmartin M., Vivanco L., Yahdjian L. 2024. From plant litter to soil organic matter: a game to understand carbon dynamics. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, e2724, doi:10.1002/fee.2724.
• Smith M.D., Wilkins K., Holdrege M.C., Wilfahrt P., Collins S.L., Knapp A., Sala O.E., Dukes J, Phillips R., Yahdjian L., DroughtNet CONSORTIUM, & Sun W, 2024. Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(4), e2309881120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2309881120 (Member of the core group of authors).
• Carboni L.J.*, Yahdjian L Oñatibia G. 2023. Effects of livestock grazing intensification on plant communities of Patagonian drylands increase with increasing aridity. Applied Vegetation Science 26:4, e12754. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12754 (This paper is among the top 10 most-cited papers published by the journal in 2023).
• Ciavattini M.*, Tognetti P.M., Campana S., Yahdjian L. 2023. Livestock grazing promotes legume abundance under increased nutrient loads: Mechanistic evidence from a temperate grassland. Applied Vegetation Science 26:4, e12751. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12751. 
• Spohn M. Bagchi S., Biederman L.A., Borer E.T., Bråthen K.A., NutNet CONSORTIUM..& Yahdjian L. 2023. The positive effect of plant diversity on soil organic carbon depends on climate. Nature Communications 14, 6624 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42340-0.
• Yahdjian L., Carboni L.J., Velasco Ayuso S., Oñatibia G.R. 2023. Intensification of livestock farming in times of climate change: The challenges of domestic grazing in the drylands of the Argentine Patagonia. Metode Science Studies Journal, 13: 25–31. ISSN 2174-3487. eISSN: 2174-9221. https:// doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.21553. Tambien disponible en español: Intensificación de la ganadería en tiempos de cambio climático: Desafíos del pastoreo doméstico en las zonas áridas de la Patagonia Argentina. Monográfico para “Zonas áridas: oportunidades, retos y amenazas”. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.2155. 
• Garbowski M., Boughton E., Ebeling A., Fay P., Hautier Y., Holz H., Jentsch A., Jurburg S., Ladouceur E., Martina J., Ohlert T., Raynaud X., Roscher C., Sonnier G., Tognetti P., Yahdjian L., Wilfart P. Harpole W.S. 2023. Nutrient enrichment alters seasonal beta-diversity in global grasslands. Journal of Ecology. http://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14182.
• Toledo S., Bondaruk V.F., Yahdjian L., Oñatibia G.R., Loydi A., Alberti J., Bruschetti M., Pascual J., Peter G., Agüero W.D, Namur P.R., Blanco L., Peri P.L. 2023. Environmental factors regulate soil microbial attributes and their response to drought in rangeland ecosystems. Science of the Total Environment, 892,164406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164406.
• Maestre F.T., Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y., Delgado-Baquerizo M., Eldridge D.J., Saiz H., Berdugo M., Gozalo B., Ochoa V., Guirado E., …. Yahdjian L., …BIODESERT CONSORTIUM & Gross N. 2022. Livestock grazing and ecosystem service delivery in global drylands. Science 378 (6622): 915-920.  https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq4062 .
• Toledo S., Gargaglione V., Yahdjian L., Peri P. 2023. Differential responses of soil microorganisms to precipitation changes in austral semiarid grasslands. Pedobiologia – Journal of Soil Ecology, 150873. Vol 97-98, 2023, Pages 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2023.150873.
• Risch A., Zimmermann S., Schuetz M., Borer E., Broadbent A., Caldeira M. Davies K., Eisenhauer N., Eskelinen A., Fay P., Hagedorn F., Knops J., Lembrechts J., MacDougall A., McCulley B., Melbourne B., Moore J., Power S., Seabloom E., Silveira M., Virtanen R., Yahdjian L., Ochoa Hueso R. 2023.  Drivers of the microbial metabolic quotient across global grasslands. Global Ecology and Biogeography 32, 904–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13664.
• Petrasek M.R.*, Piñeiro G., Bonvecchi V.E., Yahdjian L. 2023. Are service crops an alternative for mitigating N₂O emissions in soybean crops in the Argentinian pampas? J Environ Qual 52:258–269. doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20445.
• Frey B., Moser B., Tytgat B., Zimmermann S., Alberti J., Biederman L., Borer E.T., Brodbent A., Caldeira M.C., Davies Kendi F., Eisenhauer N., Eskelinen A., Fay P., Hagedorn F., Hautier Y., MacDougall A.S., McCulley R.L., Moore J.L., Nepel M., Power S.A., Seabloom E.W., Vasqzez E., Virtanen R., Yahdjian L., Risch A.C. 2023. Long-term N-addition alters the community structure of functionally important N-cycling soil microorganisms across global grasslands. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 176, 108887 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2022.108887.
• Maestre F.T., Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y., Delgado-Baquerizo M., Eldridge D.J., Saiz H., Berdugo M., Gozalo B., Ochoa V., Guirado E., García-Gómez M., Valencia E., Gaitán J.J, Asensio S., Mendoza B.J., Plaza C., Díaz-Martínez P., Rey A., Hu H., He J., Wang J.T., Lehmann A., ….BIODESERT CONSORTIUM…Yahdjian L., Zaady E., Zhang Y., Zhou X., Singh B.K., Gross N. 2022. Grazing and ecosystem service delivery in global drylands. Science 378 (6622): 915-920. DOI: 10.1126/science.abq4062.
• Bondaruk V.F.*, Oñatibia G.R., Fernández R., Agüero W., Blanco L., Bruschetti C.M., Kröpfl A., Loydi A., Pascual J., Peri P., Peter G., Quiroga R. E., Yahdjian L. 2022. Forage provision is more affected by droughts in arid and semi-arid than in mesic rangelands. Journal of Applied Ecology, 59 (9) 2404-2418. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14243.
• Bondaruk V.F.*, Oñatibia G.R., Wilcox K.R., Yahdjian L. 2022. Standardized indices to estimate sensitivity to drought across ecosystems. Applied Vegetation Science, 25, e12674.  https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12674
• Price J., Sitters J. Ohlert T., Brown C.S., Tognetti P., Seabloom E.W., Borer E.T., Prober S., MacDougall A.S., Yahdjian L., Bakker E., …& Wardle G.M.. 2022. Evolutionary history of grazing and resources determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant diversity. Nature, Ecology and Evolution 6(9), 1290-1298. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01809-9. (Member of the core group of authors).
• Smith M., Koerner S., Avolio M., Komatsu K., Eby S., Forrestel E., Collins S., Wilcox K., Ahumada R., Morgan J., Oliva G., Oñatibia G., Overbeck G., Peter G., Quiroga E., Sankaran M., Wu J., Yahdjian L., Yu Q. 2022. Richness, not evenness, varies across water availability gradients in grassy biomes on five continents. Oecologia, 199(3), 649-659.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-022-05208-6.
• Della Chiesa T.*, Piñeiro G., Del Grosso S., Parton W., Araujo P., Yahdjian L. 2022. Higher than expected N₂O emissions from soybean crops in Argentina: estimates from DayCent-simulations and field measurements. Science of the Total environment 835 (2022) 155408. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.scitotenv.2022.155408. 
• Campana M.S.*, Tognetti P., Yahdjian L. 2022. Livestock exclusion reduces the temporal stability of grassland productivity regardless of eutrophication. Science of the Total Environment 817 (2022) 152707, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152707.
• Della Chiesa T.*, Del Grosso S.J., Hartman M.D., Parton W.J., Echarte L., Yahdjian L., Piñeiro G. 2022. A novel mechanism to simulate inter-cropping and relay-cropping using the DayCent model. Ecological Modelling 465:109869. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2021.109869.
• Yahdjian L, Sala O.E., Piñeiro-Guerra J.M., Knapp A.K., Collins S., Phillips R., Smith M. 2021. Why coordinated distributed experiments should go global. BioScience 71 (9), 918–927. doi:10.1093/biosci/biab033. 
• Campana M.S.*, Yahdjian L. 2021. Plant quality and primary productivity modulate plant biomass responses to the joint effects of grazing and fertilization in a mesic grassland. Applied Vegetation Science. 24(2), e12588 doi:10.1111/avsc.12588. (Premio JVS/AVS Editors’ Awards for 2021; https://vegsciblog.org/ 2022/01/06/jvs-avs-editors-awards-for-2021/).
• Carroll O., Batzer E., Bharath S., Borer E.T., Campana S., Esch E., Hautier Y., Ohlert T., Seabloom E.W., Adler P.B., Bakker J.D., Biederman L., Bugalho M.N., Caldeira M., Chen Q., Davies K., Fay P.A., Knops J.M.H., Komatsu K., Martina J., McCann K.S., Moore J.L., Morgan J.W., Muraina T.O., Osborne B., Risch A.C., Stevens C., Wilfhart P.A., Yahdjian L., and MacDougall A.S. 2021. Nutrient identity modifies the destabilizing effects of eutrophication in grasslands. Ecology Letters 25:754 –765; http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.13946. 
• Tognetti P., Prober S., Baez S., Chaneton E., Firn J., Risch A., Schuetz M., Simonsen A., Yahdjian L.,  …& Sankaran M. 2021. Negative effects of nitrogen override positive effects of phosphorus on grassland legumes worldwide. PNAS 118 (28) e2023718118; (Member of the core group of authors).https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023718118 (Science Editors’ Choice; Science 2021). 
• Kwon T, Shibata H, Kepfer-Rojas S, Schmidt IK, Larsen KS, Beier C, Berg B, Verheyen K, Lamarque JF, Hagedorn F, Eisenhauer N, Djukic I,…Yahdjian L. …TeaComposition CONSORTIUM. 2021. Effects of climate and atmospheric nitrogen deposition on early to mid-term stage litter decomposition across biomes. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. 2021:90. doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2021.678480.
• López Zieher XM*, Vivanco L, Yahdjian L. 2020. Soil bacterial communities remain altered after 30 years of agriculture abandonment in Pampa grasslands. Oecologia, 193 (4), 959-968. doi:10.1007/s00442-020-04736-3.
• Araujo PI, Piñeiro-Guerra JM*, Yahdjian L, Acreche MM, Alvarez CR, Costantini A, Chalco Vera J, De Tellería J, Della Chiesa T, Lewczuk NA, Petrasek M, Piccinetti C, Picone L, Portela S, Posse G, Seijo M, Vera J, Videla C, Piñeiro G. 2020. Drivers of N₂O emissions from natural forests and grasslands differ on space and time. Ecosystems 24.2 (2020): 335-350. doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00522-7.
• Risch A, Zimmermann S, Moser B, Schuetz M, Hagedorn F, Firn J, Fay P, Adler P, Biederman L, Blair J, Borer E, Broadbent A, Cadotte M, Caldeira M, Davies Ki, di Virgilio A, Eisenhauer N, Eskelinen A, Knops J, MacDougall A, McCulley B, Melbourne B, Moore J, Power S, Prober S, Seabloom E, Siebert J, Silveira M, Speziale K, Stevens C, Tognetti P, Virtanen R, Yahdjian L, Ochoa Hueso R. 2020. Global impacts of fertilization and herbivore removal on soil net nitrogen mineralization depend on local climate and soil properties. Global Change Biology 26 (12), 7173-7185. doi: 10.1111/gcb.15308.
• Ochoa-Hueso R, Borer E, Seabloom EW, Hobbie SE, Risch AC, Collins SL, Alberti J, Bahamonde HA, Brown CS, Caldeira MC, Daleo P, Dickman CR, Ebeling A, Eisenhauer N, Esch EH, Eskelinen A, Fernández V, Güsewell S, Gutierrez-Larruga B, Hofmockel K, Laungani R, Lind E, López A, McCulley RL, Moore JL, Peri P, Power SA, Price JN, Prober SM, Roscher C, Sarneel JM, Schütz M, Siebert J, Standish RJ, Velasco Ayuso S, Virtanen R, Wardle GM, Wiehl G, Yahdjian L, Zamin T 2020. Microbial processing of plant remains is co-limited by multiple nutrients in global grasslands. Global Change Biology 26(8), 4572-4582. doi: 10.1111/gcb.15146.
• Bharath S, Borer ET, Biederman LA, Blumenthal DM, Fay PA, Gherardi LA, Knops JMH, Leakey ADB, Yahdjian L, Seabloom EW. 2020. Nutrient addition increases grassland sensitivity to droughts. Ecology 101(5):e02981. doi:10.1002/ecy.2981.