Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department
Research
I am interested in population ecology, theoretical ecology, and conservation biology. My Ph.D. research integrates community and population ecology to advance our understanding of how community-level processes shape population-level processes and the implications for conservation. Biodiversity conservation is a significant global challenge. Increasing plant diversity is often associated with higher community productivity, stability, and ecosystem services. However, the consequences of biodiversity are mainly studied at higher scales in terms of community and ecosystem responses. In my research, I ask if the results at the community level also apply at the population scale. I explore the underlying mechanisms of this relationship by focusing on the mediating role of bottom-up and top-down drivers in shaping community infl uence on population properties. Specifically, I focus on how community diversity, by modifying the strength of biotic interactions such as competition and mutualism, can alter population dynamics. Read more about my scientific journey here: https://esa.org/plantpopulation/highlighted-members/
