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| Monteverde, Costa Rica, Feb. 2005 |
I am interested in the growth and mortality of trees in tropical forests. My
research combines high-spatial-resolution remote sensing with ground data
to address demographic questions across large landscapes. The integration
of remote sensing methods for the detection and monitoring of indiviudal trees
with traditional demographic studies allows us to collect larger samples,
across larger regions, including areas where ground-based work is logistically
impractical.
My undergraduate training was at James Cook University (Queensland, Australia) where I studied tropical ecology and
conservation biology. After my Bachelor's degree, I enrolled in an Honors year under the supervision of Ross Alford, in which I
tested seven hypotheses for the ontogenetic origins of fluctuating asymmetry. After graduating I joined Mike Hadfield's lab at
the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, where I oversaw the day-to-day operations of the captive-breeding program for Hawaiian
tree snails, including the endangered genus, Achatinella. I completed a Master's degree in ecology at Dartmouth with
David Peart, focused on the development of remote sensing capacity for individual tree detection and monitoring in tropical rain
forests. I am now a Ph.D. student with Steve Hubbell at the University of Georgia.