In the lab, we ask questions about how people shape past and present landscapes. We answer these questions using historical ecology (e.g. archival images), dendroecology (e.g. tree and shrub rings), and experiments.
Some of our research themes include:
Ecological legacies
associated with people occupying sites for millennia. We are exploring the roles of marine nutrient subsidies, fire, and the intentional growing of plants to understand forest diversity and structure.
Biodiversity
as a critical component for understanding how ecosystem function. In partnership with Brian Starzomski at UVic, we have a long-term experiment that examines the role of climate warming on plant communities.
Biogeography