Salick worked at the
New York Botanical Garden (1983–89), rising to assistant curator. She then joined the Department of Plant Biology at
Ohio University (1989–2000) as assistant and then associate professor of tropical ecology and
ethnobotany. She has since been Curator and Senior Curator of Ethnobotany at the
Missouri Botanical Garden in
St. Louis,[1][2][4] and is also an adjunct professor of biology at
Washington University in St. Louis.[5] In 2019 she retired from her position at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and now has emerita status.[4]
One of the focusi of her recent research has been the
alpine environment of the
Himalayas, and in particular, the effects of
climate change and human activities.[6] She worked with partners in China, Nepal and Bhutan to establish the Himalayan team of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA), an international network that aims to document plant life diversity in alpine regions globally and to study how it is affected by climate change over time.[7][8]
Plants used in
traditional medicine and other forms of
traditional knowledge are another interest.[6] With Wayne Law, Salick documented how the
cotton-headed snow lotus (Saussurea laniceps), a rare species of Himalayan snow lotus used in traditional
Chinese medicine and also often collected by tourists, has decreased in height over a century, apparently in response to pressure from humans selectively picking taller plants.[9][10] She has also published on the impact of traditional agricultural and forestry practices, for example, among the
Yanesha (or Amuesha) people living on the upper
Amazon in Peru.[11]
With Robbie Hart, Salick documented phenological changes with climate change in Himalayan rhododendrons on
Mount Yulong near Lijian, China.[12] They also published on comparative ethnobotany between the
Naxi and
Yi peoples.[13]
Most recently, Salick is investigating ethnobotany and food sovereignty with Native American tribes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.[4]
Hart R, Salick J (2018). "Vulnerability of phenological progressions over season and elevation to climate change: Rhododendrons of Mt. Yulong". Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. 34: 129–139.
Bibcode:
2018PPEES..34..129H.
doi:
10.1016/j.ppees.2018.09.001.
S2CID92508589.
Salick J, Cellinese N, Knapp S (1997). "Indigenous diversity of cassava: generation, maintenance, use and loss among the Amuesha, Peruvian upper Amazon". Economic Botany. 51: 6–19.
doi:
10.1007/bf02910400.
S2CID24382799.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^J Salick; N Cellinese; S Knapp (1997), "Indigenous diversity of cassava: generation, maintenance, use and loss among the Amuesha, Peruvian upper Amazon", Economic Botany, 51: 6–19,
doi:
10.1007/bf02910400,
S2CID24382799
^Hart, Robbie; Salick, Jan (2017). "Dynamic Ecological Knowledge Systems Amid Changing Place and Climate: Mt. Yulong Rhododendrons". Journal of Ethnobiology. 37 (1). Society of Ethnobiology: 21–36.
doi:
10.2993/0278-0771-37.1.21.
ISSN0278-0771.
S2CID89859292.