Our work focuses on four themes
How does the impact of species interactions on plant populations and distribution change with climate?
We know that both climate and species interactions affect population growth, but we have a poor sense of how these two drivers might modulate—or accentuate—each other’s effects. We use a mix of experimental and observational approaches, combined with statistical and population modeling on single species, to test whether the impact of species interactions varies systematically with abiotic stress.
Do plant responses to climate and species interactions vary systematically across broad spatial scales?
Range-wide patterns in climatic stress and the distributions of interacting species will have important implications for predicting both extinction risk and range shifts in a future climate. We work to conduct targeted studies of population responses to both of these suites of drivers across entire ranges of plant species, as well as conduct meta-analyses of existing studies, to examine how climate and species interactions (and the covariance between them) drive range-wide responses of plant species.
What are the mechanisms whereby other trophic levels or guilds elicit population-level responses?
To predict how the impacts of herbivores, pollinators, and other types of interactors will change with a warming climate, we must understand the mechanisms underlying the response. For example, if a tree increases fitness of an understory plant via amelioration of water stress, this positive effect might be less pronounced under higher precipitation. But if the facilitative mechanism is instead a reduction in herbivory rates, this positive effect will be largely unaffected by precipitation. In a variety of plant species, and with a variety of interaction types, we work to describe the mechanistic underpinnings of species interactions from a population-level perspective.
How will rare plants and animals respond to climate change?
Perhaps the most concerning impacts of climate change are the threats to rare and threatened species. We use observational methods and population modeling to predict how these species might respond to changes in climate and other anthropogenic impacts. Note that while we do some work on animal species, this is not a primary focus of the lab; the vast majority of our work (especially those of students and postdocs) focuses on plants.
We know that both climate and species interactions affect population growth, but we have a poor sense of how these two drivers might modulate—or accentuate—each other’s effects. We use a mix of experimental and observational approaches, combined with statistical and population modeling on single species, to test whether the impact of species interactions varies systematically with abiotic stress.
Do plant responses to climate and species interactions vary systematically across broad spatial scales?
Range-wide patterns in climatic stress and the distributions of interacting species will have important implications for predicting both extinction risk and range shifts in a future climate. We work to conduct targeted studies of population responses to both of these suites of drivers across entire ranges of plant species, as well as conduct meta-analyses of existing studies, to examine how climate and species interactions (and the covariance between them) drive range-wide responses of plant species.
What are the mechanisms whereby other trophic levels or guilds elicit population-level responses?
To predict how the impacts of herbivores, pollinators, and other types of interactors will change with a warming climate, we must understand the mechanisms underlying the response. For example, if a tree increases fitness of an understory plant via amelioration of water stress, this positive effect might be less pronounced under higher precipitation. But if the facilitative mechanism is instead a reduction in herbivory rates, this positive effect will be largely unaffected by precipitation. In a variety of plant species, and with a variety of interaction types, we work to describe the mechanistic underpinnings of species interactions from a population-level perspective.
How will rare plants and animals respond to climate change?
Perhaps the most concerning impacts of climate change are the threats to rare and threatened species. We use observational methods and population modeling to predict how these species might respond to changes in climate and other anthropogenic impacts. Note that while we do some work on animal species, this is not a primary focus of the lab; the vast majority of our work (especially those of students and postdocs) focuses on plants.