Educational Background

M.S. Portland State University, Geography - in progress
Thesis: "Regeneration Patterns Following Blowdown in a Self-Replacing Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) Stand, Central Oregon, U.S.A."

B.S. Portland State University, Biology, Environmental Science - 2001

Research Interests

My graduate research plans are to investigate spatial patterns of a fire-initiated lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) cohort following a recent blowdown in a xeric, nutrient-poor, self-replacing lodgepole pine stand. My goal is to determine how resource patchiness affects local and landscape scale regeneration patterns. I hypothesize that lodgepole pine regeneration and persistence are facilitated by moisture and nutrients retained in old (~80 years), rotten logs and by shade provided by shrubs and recently (~20 years) blown down logs. I used circular plots to map trees, saplings, seedlings, shrubs, and rotten and sound logs at sites representative of the diversity of conditions, from little to extreme blowdown, within the stand. I will analyze spatial patterns among lodgepole pine, shrubs, and logs across a range of spatial scales using nearest neighbor and pattern analysis (Morisita's I_d and Moran's I). I expect to find a strong correlation among rotten logs, shrubs, and lodgepole pine seedlings that is suggested by perceived linear patterns among canopy trees. Regeneration patterns in moisture-limited environments may be a function of nurse log and nurse plant facilitation.