About me

I study the influence of disturbance and climate change on organisms, communities, and ecosystems. I am interested in how large herbivores cause and respond to environmental change across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. To this end, my work incorporates methods and principles from several fields including paleoecology, rangeland ecology, analytical chemistry, fire ecology, paleoecoinformatics, and biogeography.

I have developed quantitative models to simulate long-term shifts in bison range dynamics and climate envelopes. I am working on an analytical approach for reconstructing changes in past herbivore community composition and population patterns from fossil molecules found in lake sediments. Additionally, I am developing new paleoecological records of vegetation, fire, human use, and climate in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains.