The earth’s ecosystems are being transformed by human activities. The resultant loss of natural habitat is the leading threat to biodiversity. I use experiments, large-scale observational studies, and mathematical modeling to understand the consequences of habitat loss for biodiversity and ecosystem function and to find ways to mitigate loss through sustainable land use.
Agricultural intensification is eroding ecosystem services such as pollination, pest suppression, and carbon sequestration. Transforming corn- and soybean-dominated landscapes to include greater areas of perennial bioenergy crops – like native grasslands – may help preserve ecosystem services, while supplying renewable energy. However, gains in ecological sustainability are not without an economic cost. Taking advantage of differences in the biology and ecology of different crops may allow us to strategically design landscapes that optimize sustainability and crop production. I’m working in collaboration with the Gratton lab, Tim Meehan, and GLBRC to model how a suite of ecosystem services responds to different landscape design scenarios that emphasize annual crop production, perennial crops, or a “smart” optimization of the two. Click here for a bit more detail on this project.
I’m using microcosms – miniature landscapes – made from patches of different types of leaf litter to study how landscape structure effects biodiversity and ecosystem function. The idea that biodiversity increases with greater areas of natural habitat and decreases as patches become more isolated has become a guiding principle in ecology and conservation. But because area and isolation are correlated, debate persists on the relative importance of the two. Whats more, the habitat between patches (the landscape matrix) can mediate area and isolation effects. Experiments such as this are required to disentangle the effects habitat area, isolation, and matrix quality on ecosystems.
Many beneficial insects need food resources continuously throughout the growing season to persist. But because agricultural regions can have a synchronous flush followed by long gaps in resources, it can be challenging to survive. I am using predator-prey metapopulation models to explore how resource asynchrony allows mobile beneficial insects to persist by tracking resources across a landscape as they become available at different times in different locations. A better understanding how temporal variation in resources affects beneficial insect populations may help us manage agricultural landscapes. Rather than planting landscapes in a single crop type, planting a diversity of crops that provide resources at complementary times of the season may enhance beneficial insect populations and the ecosystem services that they provide.
Pollinator lab 