Our
lab's research is centered on the study of patterns of
species diversity and distributions in heterogeneous
landscapes, and how those patterns are influenced by
physiological, ecological and evolutionary forces. Our
research is generally steeped in field study and uses a
combination of observational, experimental and comparative
approaches.
An important focal landscape
in our lab's research are tropical mountainsides. Species
found in these regions show thin, belt-like
distributions along mountain chains, ranging hundreds
or thousands of kilometers in latitude, but only a handful
of kilometers in elevation. This characteristic of
species' ranges in tropical montane forests makes these
global biodiversity hotspots exceptionally susceptible to
anthropogenic climate change and fragmentation. Our
ability to evaluate the threats that species face with
such environmental change hinges upon understanding the
abiotic and biotic determinants of their distributions.
Click here to learn
about our lab's ongoing research projects. If
you're interested in joining our lab,
please contact us!
And if you're considering a graduate
program in biology, click here
for some (hopefully useful) advice.
