Our lab investigates the forces enabling the maintenance, and governing the distribution, of biological diversity. We seek to understand how climate, dispersal limitations and biotic interactions affect the distribution of species and structure of communities. We are interested in the interactive role of these processes contemporarily and historically.
Forest ecosystems cover 30% of the world’s land surface, but historically covered as much as 50%. By storing 80% of the global plant carbon pool, forest ecosystems play a central role in regulating global climate. Boreal forests alone cover 11%
With rapid climate change, we expect species to shift their geographic distribution. Possible future scenarios include geographic range expansion, range contractions as well as local extirpation and species-wide extinctions. Which of these scenarios is more likely will vary among species,
Biological invasions are a leading cause of ecosystem changes worldwide and many of these changes go unoticed. Specifically, the invasion of exotic plant species is a global phenomenon which is significanlty altering native plant diversity and ecosystem function . Invasive
We are interested in developing models and conducting experiments enabling us to quantify the relative and interactive influence of multiple processes operating across spatial scales to shape the structure of local communities. The composition and diversity of species we observe
