CURRENT PROJECTS
Wildlife management for natural carbon capture
My current work with Drs. Oswald Schmitz and Shawn Leroux focuses on exploring the interacting effects of forest canopy disturbance and increasing moose population density on boreal forest carbon storage and emissions in Newfoundland, Canada. In summer 2022, I undertook a 2-month pilot study in Gros Morne and Terra Nova National Parks, where I measured soil carbon dioxide emissions rates and soil carbon and nitrogen content across a range of canopy gaps (timber extraction, insect outbreak) and moose population densities. In 2023 I will return to the parks with a team to deploy a network of autonomous soil carbon dioxide emissions sensors to collect a spatially-and temporally-explicit "big" dataset of carbon dynamics across this range. Our goal is to collaborate with Parks Canada on moose population density management strategies to optimize soil carbon sequestration in this important carbon sink of an ecosystem.
Defaunation and the carbon cycle
My dissertation focuses on the intersection between community ecology (the study of assemblages of wildlife, and how they interact with each other) and ecosystems ecology (the study of functional processes, like nutrient cycling, in ecosystems). Though my background began in coastal marine ecology, exploring intertidal trophic cascades and nutrient cycling, my dissertation research takes place in Laikipia, Kenya, at the Mpala Research Centre. I work in the Kenya Long-term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE), which for over 20 years has excluded large herbivores (like elephants and giraffes) from experimental plots to see 'what happens' to the savanna ecosystem inside, as a proxy for wildlife extinction. I'm excited to be one of the scientists to dig into the ecology behind it all, by researching the impacts of large wildlife 'loss' on ecosystem carbon cycling and storage. Navigate to my blog to read stories from the field, and updates about my research!
Ecological networks
I am incredibly interested in ecological networks: food webs, networks detailing non-feeding interactions between organisms, and those describing the connections between wildlife and nutrients. Some of my dissertation work has focused on the quantitative theory behind these networks, and I am a member of an interdisciplinary group of scientists (engineers, computer scientists, and sociologists) who all seek to better understand how networks work in a variety of systems. This group, the NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship in network science, seeks to train graduate students from a variety of fields to work together on network science problems, fostering across-discipline collaboration as well as experience in the growing field of network science.
A network describing the relationships between the topics found in a collection of papers from ecological journals (Forbes, unpublished data).
Beyond Ecology
I am a strong believer in sharing scientific work with the general public, and in scientists contributing to environmental policy and positive social and environmental change. I am involved in several interdisciplinary groups at UCSB that seek to combine the expertise of sociologists, historians, anthropologists, policy and law experts, and natural scientists. These are: the Interdepartmental Emphasis in Environment and Society, a graduate emphasis that trains PhD students in interdisciplinary research on the environment; a working group exploring the concept of grizzly bear reintroduction to the state of California; and The Beyond Research Collective, a graduate-student run organization that seeks to "to positively affect the challenging socio-political and environmental landscape by empowering and supporting career scientists".
Our goals include: better dissemination of scientific knowledge beyond academic circles, understanding of the ecological impacts of environmental issues, exploration of the socially-important impacts of environmental issues like environmental justice, policy, economics, and education, and training in skills important in environmental policy and communication.
Brainstorming the important topics in carnivore research with the grizzly bear reintroduction working group.