Dr. Amy Treonis is a soil ecologist and Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Richmond in Virginia, USA. She studies the diversity of organisms that live in soil and how they interact with each other, with growing plants, and with their environment. Her research focuses specifically on the ecology of soil nematodes, which are microscopic roundworms.  Nematode species diversity is massive but poorly understood relative to other types of animals (e.g., insects or mammals).  Dr. Treonis addresses questions regarding nematode communities and soil food web dynamics, using methodology that combines collection and experimentation at field sites, microscopy, and molecular biology.  Her experiments answer questions regarding the basic ecology of soil, as well as the biological responses of soil to agricultural management. 

Dr. Treonis completed her dissertation research at Colorado State University in 1999. For this work, she spent two field seasons in the Antarctic.   She then held a postdoctoral position at the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, followed by a teaching position in the Biology Department at Creighton University (Nebraska, USA). She assumed her current position at the University of Richmond in Virginia in 2005.