Faculty Advisor: Tom Veblen
Research Interests
My research interests are in disturbance ecology, climate variability, forest mortality processes, tree ecophysiology, ecological restoration, and biogeography of temperate forests and montane grasslands. I employ dendrochronology, spatial analysis involving remote sensing and GIS, and physiological evaluation of tree water relations, gas exchange and internal carbon dynamics to address questions related to: 1) the role that natural and human disturbances play in shaping long-term forest dynamics at landscape scales 2) how past and current climate variability affect disturbance processes and individual tree physiology 3) the physiological basis of forest mortality processes 4) the application of disturbance ecology and tree physiology to restoration ecology and forest policy. Geographically, my work is focused in the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Idaho, USA and in Patagonia.