Matthew T. Distler, Ph.D.

   

 
I am an ecologist, botanist, and environmental scientist specializing in wetland systems and living in Seattle, Washington. My recent research focused on plant ecology and invasion ecology in wetland ecosystems, but I am also interested and experienced in stream and riparian restoration, GIS mapping and analysis, and paleoecology.

My doctoral work at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse, New York) focused on long term change in wetlands and the ways that natural disturbance and human activities change the successional pathways of wetlands. Additionally, I have investigated:

• the importance of landscape position (Great Lakes vs. inland basins) in controlling wetland development
• invasion processes in wetlands
• factors controlling diversity in minerotrophic peatlands
• ecology of cattail hybrids

Along with my advisor, Dr. Donald Leopold, I used a combination of field studies, historical aerial photo analysis, paleoecological techniques and experimental manipulations to:

• describe the long-term stability and development of several diverse, weakly minerotrophic fen communities in central New York State
• elucidate the paleohistorical importance of cattail (Typha spp.) in these fens
• determine the degree of encroachment, environmental tolerances, and varying effects of the three northeastern U.S. Typha species on species composition and diversity in fens
• investigate the ecological differences between Typha taxa in the northeastern U.S.

  

 

 

Collaborative research

 

(See Curriculum Vitae, attached)