Current Work

I work in a few different roles, looking at fire ecology and how it interacts with plant and soil moisture, how soil biota like mycorrhizal fungi (symbiotic with plant roots) affect all the other pieces of the ecosystem, and ecosystem services, including:

• Evaluating the most important management practices for Integrated Fire Risk Management and Integrated Risk Management in our wildlands as the climate shifts

• Researching how mycorrhizal fungi are disturbed, how long they take to come back, and how to restore them to:

  • • Support and enhance soil moisture, and reduce fire hazard;

    •  Improve plant water relations and drought resilience;

    • Provide erosion control and support watershed integrity and resilience;

    • Improve habitat for animals; and

    • Assist with plant translocation & climate adaptation.

• Implementing the first community-powered research on mycorrhizal fungi & answering questions about how to manage lands better using mycorrhizae. 

  • Check out my collaboration with Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, the City of Austin, Travis County, and colleagues at Northern Arizona University and Texas State here.