Author ORCID Identifier

0009-0008-9155-1065

Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Thesis (Ph.D.)

Department or Program

Ecology, Evolution, Environment and Society

First Advisor

Theresa W. Ong

Abstract

Agroecological transitions are often presented as purposeful shifts toward more resilient, equitable, and ecologically sustainable landscapes. In practice, these transitions unfold through histories, ecological feedback, institutional arrangements, and contested forms of participation. This dissertation examines how these forces shape what agroecological transitions become, for whom, and with what socioecological consequences across urban and working landscapes in the northeastern United States.

Drawing on historical and critical analysis, ecological modeling, greenhouse experimentation, ethnographic fieldwork, and institutional analysis, I trace transition through urban forests, community-garden seed banks and soils, temperate agroforestry systems, and a participatory tree nursery. Analyses of urban greening and agroforestry show how racialized land histories, disturbance regimes, species selection, and institutional definitions of resilience shape environmental change. Research in Boston community gardens demonstrates that ecological memory persists in both buried seed banks and soil legacies: management and spatial context produced simultaneous homogenization and local variation, while prior ruderal diversity most consistently shaped crop establishment and abundance-by-diversity interactions structured later growth. Ethnographic analysis of a university-supported agroforestry nursery shows that participation is organized through material and institutional arrangements that distribute resources, authority, and opportunities for experimentation. A concluding analysis of interdisciplinary ecology training further shows how institutions often leave the work of integration to individuals instead of building durable support for it.

Together, these chapters conceptualize agroecological transitions as governed trajectories: historically situated reorganizations produced through the recursive interaction of ecological processes, institutional structures, and social relations. More just and resilient transitions require attention to the legacies landscapes carry, the infrastructures through which change is organized, and the people authorized to shape its direction.

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