Botanist
Pacific Island Ecosystem Research Center
The U.S. Geological Survey
United States Virgin Islands
Ph.D. 2009 Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA M.S. 2000 Botany, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa B.S. 1997 Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
I am interested in the management of degraded ecosystems, the restoration of which requires a theoretical understanding of how plant composition and ecosystem processes interact. My research integrates ecosystem and plant community ecology theory with a strong field-based experimental approach to evaluate how plant communities are structured, effect and feedback with their physical environments. I tend to integrate my main research focus into restoration and conservation by proposing research in degraded ecosystems, and linking results with management concerns.