Things I like
I love data. I love to collect data, and plot data, and analyze data, and share data! It can confirm (or deny) so many things we suspect, and it can tell us so much more than we ever imagined. My favorite data answers the questions we need to answer about conservation, restoration, and stewardship.
This leads to the next thing I love: I love our amazing planet full of mysteries. Our anthropogenic footprint is inconceivably large. Data, research, and science are tools to teach us about that footprint and to show us how we can make changes in order to leave a better planet to future generations. I've worked around the world, and in a variety of roles, to try and add to our understanding on these pivotal topics.
This leads to the next thing I love: I love our amazing planet full of mysteries. Our anthropogenic footprint is inconceivably large. Data, research, and science are tools to teach us about that footprint and to show us how we can make changes in order to leave a better planet to future generations. I've worked around the world, and in a variety of roles, to try and add to our understanding on these pivotal topics.
Latest news
|
Calling all data!!! One of my primary projects for the next three years will be the Global Arid Zone Project (GAZP), a meta-analysis of arid and semi-arid restoration success. These regions cover about 40% of the terrestrial world, and they supply immense amounts of agricultural land, rangeland, and extractable resources. Unfortunately, that means that arid and semi-arid regions have been heavily degraded by human use and are a primary focus for many restoration efforts globally.
The plants that grow in arid and semi-arid systems are insanely hardy, but they also have traits like long seed dormancy, long lifespans, and rare reproductive events, making them extremely hard to successfully restore. The goal of our project is bring together restoration ecologists in these regions, pool their data on seeding and restoration outcomes, and figure out if there are any large, consistent predictors of success. |
|
For the next 12 months or so, we're on the data hunt! If you've had experience in arid or semi-arid restoration, please contact me! This is an effort that will require a huge number of excited scientists and practitioners. Happily, everyone I've met in the restoration world so far can only be described as passionate and helpful.
Projects I think about
(click a photo for more information!)
Above: Minesite restoration in Australian mesic plains
Below: Microscopic communities to test landscape questions 
|
Top: Searching for warning signals of bog collapse
Bottom: Global study of community recovery after disturbance |
Top: Wetland mitigation in the marshes of Texas
Bottom: Garry Oak meadow management in British Columbia 
|
Above: Land use change and mammal extinctions in British Columbia
Below: Fire and invasion in Western Australia heathlands 
|