Philip Higuera is an associate professor in the Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences at the University of Montana, where he leads the PaleoEcology and Fire Ecology Lab.

Erika Zavaleta is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She directs the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program and the CAMINO (Center to Advance Mentored, Inquiry-based Opportunities) at UCSC. In 2021, she was appointed by the governor to the California Fish and Game Commission.

Nalini Nadkarni is a professor of biology at the University of Utah. Her forest ecology research focuses on how biodiversity, forests and the stability of world climate interact, with an emphasis on the forest canopy. Her field sites are in Monteverde, Costa Rica, and on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.

Danielle Lee is an assistant professor of biology at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and a self-described hip-hop maven and outreach scientist who writes about urban ecology and biology.