Research OverviewThe goal of my research is to quantify the drivers of demographic rates and to understand current, and predict future, ecological and evolutionary consequences of individual variation in these rates.
I combine observational, experimental, and data analytical approaches that span and integrate across biological and spatial scales and bridge ecology and evolution. |
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Exploring the Seasonal NicheAs a postdoc at the University of California, Davis, I am studying the environmental cues that plants in the Streptanthus clade of Brassicaceae and its allies use to determine the timing of life cycle transitions and how responses to these cues and local habitat drive evolution of the seasonal niche. I am also evaluating the impacts of climate change alterations to these cues on phenology, fitness, and population dynamics.
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Quantifying the Drivers of Differential PerformanceResearch from my PhD focused on the contribution of phenotypic and environmental variation to performance variation among individual seedlings in tropical forest communities. I focused on multivariate phenotypes, how they shape performance in tropical tree seedlings, and how they contribute to variation in performance within and across environmental gradients. I am applying findings to understand how coexistence and high levels of species and functional diversity are promoted in the tropics.
In collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Funk and Dr. Richard Phillips, I am using this framework to investigate how traits and trait combinations differentially predict drought responses in herbaceous species in a globally distributed network of drought sites. |
Hurricane Effects on ForestsI, along with the Swenson lab, are investigating the effects of Hurricane Maria on the El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico. We are assessing how release from light limitation post-hurricane with canopy removal affects seedling recruitment and performance.
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DNA Barcodes of YasuníIn continuation of my master's research, I am working to generate a DNA barcode library for all tree species in the Yasuní Forest Dynamics Plot in lowland Ecuadorian Amazon. This library is already and will continue to be used for phylogenetic community analyses, diet-analyses, and herbivory studies.
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High Elevation Plant CommunitiesIn collaboration with Columbus State University, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, and Siempre Verde Preserve, we are monitoring long-term elevation transects in montane forest in the Andes of Ecuador. All trees with dbh ≥ 5 cm have been tagged, sampled and identified. Currently, projects are sampling epiphytes across the transects.
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