Santa Cruz Island sunset.
Photo credit: Anna Oliver Kloch
I am interested in the management of degraded ecosystems, the restoration of which requires a theoretical understanding of how plant composition and ecosystem processes interact. My research integrates ecosystem and plant community ecology theory with a strong field-based experimental approach to evaluate how plant assemblages are structured and respond to changing environments. My work mainly focuses on three broad, interrelated questions: (1) What impacts do plant species have on ecosystem functioning? (2) How do these impacts feed back to alter plant performance, species interactions and community change? and (3) How do plant-ecosystem feedbacks interact with other processes to affect community structure and ecosystem resiliency?
