Research
The lab focuses on understanding ecological responses to environmental change through two main themes: (1) disentangling how abiotic and biotic factors structure ecological dynamics over expanded temporal and spatial scales, and (2) identifying what attributes make species and their communities more or less vulnerable to environmental change.
We apply techniques from biology and geology to natural accumulations of skeletal remains that span paleontological to modern timescales, along with historical records and field surveys. Our primary study systems are small mammals, raptors, and songbirds in western North America.
Active Research Areas
Do the Dead Lie? Reliability of Ecological Data from Skeletal Remains
How closely do death-assemblages reflect the composition and structure of the living community? We investigate predator selectivity, taphonomic bias, and the temporal and spatial averaging inherent in accumulations of skeletal remains — asking whether the fossil record is a faithful or distorted mirror of past life. Our work uses modern "snap-shot" assemblages to calibrate what the dead can and cannot tell us about the living.
The Distribution of Diversity Across Gradients in Time and Space
How has the intersection of landscape history, climate, biotic interactions, and human impacts shaped the distribution of diversity across space and time? We examine alpha, beta, and functional diversity along environmental gradients in the Great Basin and beyond, asking how community properties respond when species composition shifts and what role functional redundancy plays in buffering communities against change.
Biotic Responses to Environmental Change
Species do not respond to climate and land-use change uniformly. We investigate distribution shifts, niche changes, and extinction patterns to ask: What traits shape species responses, and to what degree are those traits shared within and across phylogenetic groups? By combining historical records, museum specimens, and the fossil record we reconstruct how populations and communities have navigated past environmental transitions — and use those patterns to anticipate future trajectories.
Shifting Baselines in Terrestrial Systems
Effective conservation requires understanding what ecosystems looked like before human modification. We use skeletal assemblages, museum collections, and historical accounts to establish pre-industrial baselines and identify non-analogue community states. Current projects examine how invasive species alter ecological function and community composition, and whether pre-invasion states can serve as restoration targets.