Research
I am a plant community and invasion ecologist. My research focuses on two broad topics: community structure and biological invasions. Specifically, I am interested in determining the effects of climate change, extreme events, and disturbance on biological invasions and their subsequent effects on the structure and functionality of plant communities. I am also interested looking at a role of mycorrhizae fungi facilitating invasion. Currently, I am investigating the effects of agricultural grasslands management on multiple ecosystem services. My research, therefore, lies at the interface of community and ecosystem ecology. My research is multidimensional in that I work in many different systems (aquatic, wetlands, and terrestrial communities). I use both univariate and multivariate statistics to evaluate effects of physical factors and biological invasion on structure, distribution, and function of the communities.
Ongoing Research
Plant community and invasion ecology:
- Multiple ecosystem services from intensively managed vs. native perennial grasslands.
- The responses of endemic and endangered plant species to removal of feral grazers from an oceanic Island.
- Below-ground interactions between invasive earthworms and AMF on native and invasive plants.