My research aims to understand the patterns and processes that underlie disturbance and ecosystem recovery, particularly how shifting fire regimes are reconfiguring tropical forests, encouraging non-native grass invasion, and affecting the global climate. My current and future research addresses the following major unsolved questions: 1) What is fire’s role in the Earth system? More specifically, how does fire contribute to global trends of climate warming and how does climate warming promote fire? 2) How are fire regimes altered by invasive species? Particularly, how is an invasive grass-fire cycle established and perpetuated? 3) How is the recent, unprecedented increase in human-initiated fires altering tropical-forest dynamics, and how has this increase in fire frequency changed carbon cycles and the recovery trajectory?
keywords
ecosystem science, biogeography, fire ecology, tropical biology
Teaching
courses taught
GEOG 1001 - Our Changing Planet: Climate and Vegetation
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018
Understanding our fragile planet and the life it harbors requires understanding how the distribution of the sun's energy at the surface, the atmosphere and its circulation, and the distribution of ocean and lands shape patterns of temperature, precipitation and vegetation across the globe. Along with providing a foundation for understanding planet Earth, this course addresses the growing impacts of human systems on climate change and environmental quality.
GEOG 5100 - Special Topics: Geography
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2020
Covers various topics outside of the normal curriculum; offered intermittently depending on student demand and availability of faculty. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.
GEOG 5241 - Topics in Physical Geography
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018
Presents recent research topics that vary from year to year. Consult the online Schedule Planner for specific topics. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours.
GEOG 6950 - Master's Thesis
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2024
Instructor consent required.
