I am interested in how biodiversity, resilience, sustainability and other fundamental features of our ecosystems emerge out of the complex web of interactions occurring between species. To do this, I employ a mix of complex systems and ecological theory, Bayesian statistics and large datasets to create novel models and frameworks capable of quantifying how dynamic and variable species interactions are, and to explore the emergent consequences of such variability. In my PhD dissertation, I uncovered incredible variation in the magnitude and direction of interactions between wildflower species pairs as a function of the environment. I followed through by quantifying some of the most diverse plant-plant interaction networks to date from those same wildflower communities and under different environmental conditions. In doing so I accounted for certain biological complexities which are often ignored (e.g. plant-plant facilitation, non-linear interactions) due to unclear theoretical expectations for how these factors may play out. By acknowledging complexity and bridging the gap between empiricism and theory, my research works towards developing more inclusive theories of biodiversity-maintenance.
Currently, I aim to continue developing network theory for non-trophic systems and explore how facilitation and context-dependent interactions open up new possibilities for understanding how ecosystems sustain, manage and regulate themselves.
