Educational Background

M.S. Portland State University, Geography - in progress
Thesis: " Spatio-temporal dynamics of natural forest edges in central Oregon"

B.S. Radford University, Geography - 1998

Research Interests

My research interests are in the successional dynamics of western conifer forests, particularly across edges and ecotones. My interests in dendroecology lie in assessing changes in forest structure along the environmental and biological gradients associated with stand boundaries. For my thesis I am examining the ecology and dynamics of natural forest edges in central Oregon, using tree-ring analyses to explore spatial variation in the rates and trajectories of forest development across multiple edge types.

The pronounced effects of edge on forest communities are widely recognized, yet little research looks beyond short-term, site-specific responses to human-created boundaries. The objectives of my research are (1) to quantify and analyze directional and successional change across natural edges of varying age and stand type, and (2) to identify long-term effects of edge on fragmented forest communities. An expected outcome of this work is a spatio-temporal model of edge succession capturing the divergent pathways of community development across edge transition zones.