Matthew T. Distler

   

 
I am a doctoral candidate and EPA GRO graduate fellow at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York.
 
I am interested in the ways that natural disturbance and human activities change the successional pathways of wetlands. My research focuses on:

·           Invasion processes and history in wetlands
·    Factors controlling diversity in minerotrophic peatlands
·           Ecology of Typha hybrids
·           Ecology and paleoecology of Great Lakes wetlands
 
 
Along with my advisor, Dr. Donald Leopold, I am using 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
·     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)