What we do, in a nutshell

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Current Research: 

We are plant ecologists who work to understand how plants interact with each other, with their environment, with the animals that consume and pollinate them, and with the people that depend on them. Major current research themes in our lab are:

• Climate change in northern environments: impacts on plant communities:  Arctic and subarctic communities are experiencing some of the fastest rates of climate change on the planet. How are plant communities changing, and how are conditions affecting herbivores and pollinators?

• Invasive plants in Interior Alaska:  Non-native plants have been expanding rapidly across Alaska (and the far north in general), likely aided by higher summer and winter temperatures, longer growing seasons, increased human activity, and more frequent and larger wildfires. How does this impact native plants, herbivores, and pollinators?

• Involving diverse populations in scientific research:  Citizen science (collaborations of scientists and non-scientists in scientific research) tends to attract populations that are white and urban. How do we effectively involve a more diverse range of peoples while ensuring that we meet the informational needs of communities and obtain high-quality data that researchers can use?