I'm interested in how different species interactions (at both the macro- and micro- level) can confer ecosystem resilience to multiple stressors. I'm interested in all species interactions, but I have a particular interest in mutualism, parasitism, and predation. For my master's thesis I looked at how temperature, algae, mechanical wounding, and a symbiotic crab species interacted to affect disease progression in Australian branching corals. In my PhD, I'm looking at how gradients of human impacts (e.g., nutrient enrichment, overfishing) influence key coral mutualisms, parasitisms, and disease prevalence in Moorea, French Polynesia.
My research seeks to understand what drives biodiversity across coastal ecosystems and the importance of diversity for ecological communities under a changing climate. I'm interested in ecological redundancy and what species loss means for ecosystem function. On coral reefs I'm interested in how consumer identity influences diet and organisms' roles in maintaining foundation species.
During my master's I led an interdisciplinary Bass Connections project exploring how sound and remote sensing can be used to measure biodiversity on oyster reefs along the coast of North Carolina. We used a mixture of hydrophones, Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures, and drones to survey reefs to see whether we can derive useful metrics for biodiversity that can be used in coastal wetland restoration.
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Positive species interactions (i.e. those interactions where at least one species benefits and no species are harmed) are common in stressful environments, such as restored coastal ecosystems. Using a mixture of literature reviews and field experimentation I'm investigating how positive interactions can be integrated into salt marsh, mangrove, oyster, and coral restoration designs to reduce restoration, increase restoration effectiveness, and protect shorelines.
