Research
My work seeks to understand and predict how human actions alter ecology, aiming to improve conservation and management. I leverage large-scale forest inventory data, tree-ring records, and ecological niche theory to investigate the future of western North American forests under changing climatic and disturbance regimes.
Publications: Google Scholar | ResearchGate
Climate & Disturbance in Subalpine Forests
Investigating how climate change and changing disturbance regimes impact subalpine forest systems across the western US using USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis data. Key finding: fire disturbance has far larger projected impact on forest resilience than climate change alone.
Forest Mortality Detection
Developing accurate methods for detecting past and ongoing mortality events across landscapes. Working with colleagues to co-produce workflows that integrate plot-based measurements, aerial surveys, and satellite imagery for improved monitoring and management.
Focus Areas
Large-scale disturbance attribution | Remote sensing applications | Multi-source data integration
Space vs. Time in Forecasting
Examining how species' growth responses to spatial climatic variation differ from responses to climate change over time. This work challenges common ecological forecasting approaches and highlights the importance of temporal data.
Tree Invasions & Niche Biogeography
Using naturalized tree distributions as global change "experiments" to understand species' climatic niches. Found that most naturalized pines thrive in climates beyond their native range, with interesting implications for climate change vulnerability assessments.
Media Coverage
- SciTech Daily — Coverage of space-for-time substitution research
- Arizona Public Media — Methodology insights from UA research team