Biodiversity, Community Ecology, Global Change Biology, Water
My lab integrates theory-driven, field-based experiments, observational studies, remote sensing, and large data syntheses to learn about freshwater ecosystems. We study a range of organisms (from microscopic algae to invertebrates and fish), with a focus on how communities at the base of aquatic food webs respond to environmental changes. I am especially interested in how multiple stressors interact to influence biodiversity, species interactions, ecosystem functioning, and the ecosystem services on which people depend. Current areas of research include investigating the risks and management of harmful algal blooms, testing the impacts of road salt and other pollutants on urban pond and stream communities, optimizing the ecological benefits of restored water quality wetlands, revealing the cumulative effects of climate and land cover changes for mountain lakes, and developing predictive models to explain broadscale biodiversity patterns and, ultimately, inform effective conservation actions and policies.