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.
^Persons involved in GLORIA, Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments, archived from the original on 7 December 2017, retrieved 5 December 2017
^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.