Plant community ecology, ecophysiology and phylogenetics
I study the ecological and evolutionary forces that structure communities. My research integrates aspects of community ecology, ecophysiology, and community phylogenetics. Recent projects have focused on the forests of lowland Amazonia and plant communities in California. In addition to a focus on species coexistence, my research interests include species responses to climate change and the assembly of regional biotas.
Recent updates
Jan. 2010: In press at Ecological Monographs: "Functional trait and phylogenetic tests of community assembly across spatial scales in an Amazonian forest" preprint
Jan. 2010: Two papers in press at Diversity and Distributions: "Range size, taxon age, and hotspots of neoendemism in the California flora" and "The geography of climate change: implications for conservation biogeography."
Oct. 2009: Our research in Yasuni, Ecuador was described in a Science magazine essay on the origins of ecological structure
Oct. 2009: I've just made the move to UBC from UC Berkeley as of Oct 1! Come visit!
Jan. 2009: I filed my diseration in December and started a 9-month postdoc working on Climate Change and the California flora with David Ackerly
Oct. 2008: My paper "Functional traits and niche-based tree community assembly in an Amazonian forest" with Renato Valencia and David Ackerly has been published in the Oct 24th issue of Science online abstract F1000 evaluation
June 2008: Our 2007 paper in AmNat was awarded the 2008 President's Award by the American Society of Naturalists
