Research

The talk I gave when I defended my Ph.D is a good introduction to all of my research interests; you can also read about them below.

What drives grasshopper herbivory in subalpine meadows?

Plants growing at high elevation experience short growing seasons (leaves are precious!), and insect activity is predicted to increase with climate change. I wanted to understand how much grasshopper herbivory occurs in an ecologically important montane species (Lupine), whether this shifts across elevations, and why. The answers are “a surprisingly large amount,” “yes,” and “read the paper to find out!” If you’re interested, you can also watch a video diary I made about some of my fieldwork on this project here.

Does habitat restoration support invertebrate communities?

Landscape changes and habitat degradation are a major cause of worldwide declines in terrestrial invertebrate populations. I’m curious about whether habitat restoration is an effective intervention to solve this problem, and am taking a meta-analytical approach to answering it. I presented a speed talk at the North American Congress for Conservation Biology 2020 about this ongoing research. I am still accepting unpublished datasets on invertebrate responses to restoration!

How does climate affect the timing of wildflower fruiting and seed production?

We know a lot about how flowering phenology is responding to climate change, but understand much less about the effects of environmental change on post-flowering phases. Using an extensive dataset collected by my former lab mate Elli Theobald, we found that the majority of the Northwest subalpine wildflower community we studied moves from flowering through fruiting and seed release more quickly under conditions associated with climate change (earlier snowmelt, warmer temperatures, lower soil moisture availability). You can read the accepted paper here.

Can an informal outreach activity improve visitor attitudes towards invertebrates?

I’m interested in how informal science outreach can improve attitudes towards insects and build public support for invertebrate conservation. It seemed intuitive that emphasizing the ecological role an animal plays might help achieve both these goals. In a small study with Seattle’s Pacific Science Center, I found even brief encounters with live cockroaches could increase visitors’ comfort level with and interest in invertebrates. And framing conversations around ecology (e.g. discussing the role of these animals as decomposers in their native habitat) led to greater increases in the belief in the conservation value of invertebrates.