The former advisees of the late Professor Joan Ehrenfeld engage in a notably broad range of research areas centered around the effects of human activities on ecosystem structure and function and feedbacks between species composition and ecosystem processes. As a group, they illustrate the far reach of Dr. Ehrenfeld’s scientific legacy and embody her twin ideals of producing high quality basic research as well as practical research intended to inform decision making and management efforts. In this session, alumni of Dr. Ehrenfeld’s laboratory, along with their own students, will present research findings in areas that radiate from the focal challenges that Dr. Ehrenfeld’s research addressed: the impacts of human activities on ecosystem structure and function, the consequent alterations of species composition and interactions, and the cascading effects of species alterations on ecosystem function. Some presenters will focus on documenting ecosystem changes and elucidating mechanisms, while others will directly test the effectiveness of management options across varied land use types, all within the context of informing decision making processes. Poster presenters will include recent students and postdocs from Dr. Ehrenfeld’s lab discussing their ongoing dissertation research and preliminary research findings from Dr. Ehrenfeld’s active grants, all in her beloved urban forests and wetlands of New Jersey. Former students and postdocs, as well as their students, will present on a broader range of topics radiating from Dr. Ehrenfeld’s research areas of the past 10-15 years.