Species coexistence in diverse plant communities

Ecologists have long sought to understand how species coexist despite differences in their ability to compete for limited resources. By integrating ecophysiology, demography, and community ecology, my work has revealed novel mechanisms of coexistence in water and light limited plant communities.

The effects of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem function

I develop mechanistic models of species’ interactions with competitors and their environment that allow us to predict how plant communities will change as the Earth warms. These models largely recreate current biogeographic patterns in species occurrence, lending confidence in their ability to predict future changes.

Interactions between wildfires and society

Forests in the western United States have been actively managed by humans for thousands of years. However, we are just now beginning to understand how our interactions with these forests influences their resilience to wildfire. I apply state-of-the art techniques in machine learning, remote sensing, and causal inference to understand how managers can mitigate the risk of high-severity fire in a warmer future.