Our REsearch

Our lab bridges environmental science and geography to advance both basic and applied research. We integrate the spatial and temporal signatures of natural disturbances and human activities to deepen our understanding of terrestrial ecosystems.  

Our planet faces immense challenges as rising temperatures, shifting disturbance regimes, and extreme events reshape our world. Inaction is not an option. Addressing these complex, "wicked" problems requires collaborative, interdisciplinary solutions.

In our lab, we employ a suite of cutting-edge tools—including spatially-explicit simulation modeling, remote sensing, and artificial intelligence—to quantify vegetation dynamics, disturbance regimes, and carbon and nitrogen cycling across large spatial scales. Our work is highly interdisciplinary, bridging fields such as computer science, immersive technology, philosophy, and anthropology. We emphasize translational research, bridging research and management, because we deem it important to conduct applied research that is useful for managers. Recognizing the pivotal role humans play in shaping our landscapes, we collaborate with stakeholders and tribes to develop scenario-based analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of different strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation, aiming to build more resilient forest and shrub ecosystems. Overall, our research is guided by the belief that only through a better understanding of the interactions between biological, chemical, geologic, and physical processes using multiple research methods will we identify the most effective strategies to help terrestrial ecosystems to adapt to changes in our climate and disturbance regimes, while mitigating changes in our climate.

Our research takes place in many different ecosystems, including the national parks of Washington, coastal forests of Oregon, boreal forests of Alaska, sagebrush steppe of eastern Oregon, interior valley of Oregon and Washington, temperate rainforests of southeast Alaska, boreal forests and alpine areas of Siberia, boreal and mixed hardwoods of Minnesota and Wisconsin, mixed coniferous forests in the Klamath Mountains of Oregon and California, longleaf pine forests of North Carolina, northern hardwoods of New Hampshire, and the deciduous forests of UK. Our work is done in partnership with a whole host of domestic and international collaborators.