PhD, Environmental Science, University of Massachusetts Boston
Fields: Forest community ecology, network ecology, food web interactions, mutualistic species interactions
Research: My research is focused on understanding how species interactions at the community scale influence ecosystem structure and functioning. In my past research, I have specifically examined how community-scale tropical tree fruiting phenology has changed over the last couple of decades in response to changing climate. I have also examined biogeographical differences in the structure of seed dispersal interaction networks in tropical and subtropical forests of Africa and South America. In my upcoming research, I intend to use a network-ecology approach to investigate how the structure (topology) of species interaction networks influences responses to and resilience against environmental change. In turn, I will evaluate how disturbance events and long-term changes alter the structure of species interaction networks and how these changes affect ecological functioning.