Research areas

Scale in ecology: linking individual dynamics to ecosystem responses

The Arctic is warming faster than any other global region, impacting - either directly or indirectly - near all terrestrial tundra plant and animal communities. At broad scales, clear patterns of tundra greening and sea ice loss reflect the magnitude of Arctic climate change, but at the local or landscape scale, plant and animal responses are variaed and spatially heterogeneous. Scale differences, in how we measure and/or interpret patterns, can lead to a variety of seemingly contradictory findings about shared ecological processes. My past and onging work explores drivers and feedback on ecological dynamics across scale domains, particularly in the Arctic.

Pleistocene rewilding and nature based solutions

Large herbivores have the ability to shape the distribution and abundance of vegetation cover, which in turn can have cascading impacts on albedo, soil properties, nutrient cycling, and ultimately the carbon and energy budget of a system. I see to understand how, when, and under which contexts, herbivores can initiate these cascades and ultimately be a tool for ecosystem management. Collaboration with and benefits for local stakeholders are foundational necessities in both this research and it’s potential management applications.

Quantitative photography and geographic image processing

New perspectives inject fresh insights into classic ideas - and newly available data from drone and static sensors are proving just that. The parallel technological revolutions in remote image/data capture and in computational methods that ‘release’ data from a variety of sources are poised to redefine how we approach questions in ecology and conservation, not just by creating new fields of study, but by becoming part of the core toolkit for ALL ecological and conservation field-based empirical work. My own research focus seeks to interface these technological and computational advances with relevant ecological and conservation applications. Specifically, I use multi-spectral, multi-annual, and structural imaging to explore ecological and conservation applications across numerous geographic and disciplinary bounds.