Travis D. Marsico Data-verified

Affiliation confirmed via AI analysis of OpenAlex, ORCID, and web sources.

Federal Grant PI

Professor of Botany, Curator, Arkansas State University Herbarium

Arkansas State University

Last publication 2025 Last refreshed 2026-05-22

faculty

14 h-index 54 pubs 1,063 cited

Research Areas

Links

ORCID Lab Website

OverviewAI-generated summary

Travis D. Marsico's research focuses on understanding and predicting the impact of invasive species, particularly insects, on ecosystems. He investigates the factors that influence species richness and turnover, such as water availability and elevation gradients, as demonstrated by his work on vascular epiphytes in Nicaragua. Marsico also explores the genomic underpinnings of invasion risk, examining the adaptive potential of grasses in novel environments. A significant portion of his work involves developing predictive models for non-native insect impacts, emphasizing the importance of host specificity and host breadth in quantifying potential harm. This includes phylogenetic risk assessment to forecast the impact of European insects on North American conifers.

Marsico also engages in research related to collections and education. He has contributed to understanding the role of the extended specimen in collections education and has led initiatives to engage community science for herbarium transcription in Arkansas. His federally funded work with the National Science Foundation (NSF) supports research and education on invasion and disease ecology and evolution through computational data. His collaborators include Emily S. Bellis, Ben E. Benton, J. Richard Abbott, and Scott A. Mangan.

Metrics

h-index: 14
Publications: 54
Citations: 1,063

Selected Publications

What Is a Specialist? Quantifying Host Breadth Enables Impact Prediction for Invasive Herbivores (2025)

2 citations DOI OpenAlex
Flora of six Lower Mississippi River islands (U.S.A.) (2023)

DOI OpenAlex
High species richness and turnover of vascular epiphytes is associated with water availability along the elevation gradient of Volcán Maderas, Nicaragua (2022)

6 citations DOI OpenAlex
Variation in plant traits and phylogenetic structure associated with native and nonnative species in an industrialized flora (2022)

DOI OpenAlex
Phylogenetic risk assessment is robust for forecasting the impact of<scp>E</scp>uropean insects on<scp>N</scp>orth<scp>A</scp>merican conifers (2022)

12 citations DOI OpenAlex
Predicting invasion risk of grasses in novel environments requires improved genomic understanding of adaptive potential (2022)

3 citations DOI OpenAlex
An exploration of the vascular flora of Pine City Natural Area, Monroe County, Arkansas, U.S.A., in comparison to the Mississippi Alluvial Plain in eastern Arkansas (U.S.A.) (2022)

DOI OpenAlex
Community Science Success for Herbarium Transcription in Arkansas: Building a Network of Students and Volunteers for Notes from Nature (2022)

2 citations DOI OpenAlex
High species richness turnover of vascular epiphytes is associated with water availability along the elevation gradient of Volcán Maderas, Nicaragua (2021)

DOI OpenAlex
Collections Education: The Extended Specimen and Data Acumen (2021)

12 citations DOI OpenAlex
Predicting non-native insect impact: focusing on the trees to see the forest (2021)

11 citations DOI OpenAlex