Biodiversity & ecosystem functioning

I am broadly interested in the impact of global change on biodiversity and in developing novel methods for monitoring, characterizing and exploring variation in biodiversity across space and time. I extend this research to consider human valuation of functioning, in the form of ecosystem services, and how we manage for them across a landscape. I address these topics in grassland and urban systems.

Functional traits & Remote sensing

I use functional traits to understand community response to change and impacts to ecosystem functioning. I employ novel methods in remote sensing and hyperspectral imagery to characterize community traits, and focus on formulating predictive frameworks for impacts of global change on ecosystem processes.

I am currently a graduate research assistant on a project funded by NASA's BioSCape, which seeks to leverage airborne hyperspectral imagery to map functional diversity across landscapes.

Global change

Lastly, I am interested in employing causal inference techniques to better understand the implications of global change to better inform policy and decision making at local to regional scales. 
​
I currently conduct research at a field site where grassland plots are manipulated for drought and grazing. I hope to address how land managers (here, ranchers) might better employ grazing to maintain ecosystem functionality under increasingly arid conditions. 

Home      About     DONATE