What drives ecosystems’ functioning? My research focuses on two pathways: community ecology and meta-ecosystem ecology. The first considers how communities of organisms assemble, the interactions between organisms of similar and different trophic groups, and how their traits contribute to ecosystem function. Ecosystems are intrinsically connected by exchanges of organisms (dispersal and other movement) and materials (for example, resource subsidies), so the second avenue of my research considers how these exchanges affect the functioning of recipient ecosystems. I use a combination of laboratory experiments, field experiments, observational data, and data synthesis/meta-analysis in my research.

I am currently a Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Rachel Germain’s lab at the University of British Columbia, housed in the Department of Zoology and the Biodiversity Research Center.