Current Postdoctoral Associates
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This project will evaluate the relevance of explicitly incorporating microbial activity into decomposition models. Using a large-scale, long-term database of litter decomposition data, this research will compare sets of models that (1) vary only in how microbial activity is modeled and (2) compare the best model(s) from the first set to a selection of published models. This research addresses current uncertainty regarding how to best model decomposition in ecosystem models; specifically, if, or how, microbes should be represented. |
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Fire is a critical catalyst of climate and vegetation change across the globe. Future shifts in fire regimes-associated with anthropogenic change-may alter ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles on a global scale. I propose to synthesize published data on fuel production, climate, and ignition sources with reconstructed fire histories to investigate the determinants of fire frequency. Results will provide insights into historical fire patterns and bolster predictions of future fire regimes in an era of accelerating global land-cover and climate change.
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I am interested in determining the existence and role of publication bias in ecology. Publication bias is prevalent in many fields of science although has been relatively unexplored in ecology. The importance of factors unrelated to publication quality will be tested using survey data, online databases and bibliometric methods. I will also evaluate the impact of publication bias on the composition of the ecological community in addition to developing best practices for journals, reviewers, and editors.
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Observing the advances that data management and analysis techniques have brought to our society, I desire to be a contributor in this exciting arena of progress. My main fields of research expertise are data mining and databases. Within the data mining field, I worked on discovering different kinds of movement regularities from the trajectories of moving objects. Within the database field, my research involves investigating research problems in data integration on different types of data, query evaluation and user feedback process. |
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Evolutionary processes (e.g., natural selection and evolution) may have strong, contemporary effects on population dynamics. However, understanding the overall magnitude and importance of these effects requires further evaluation. My research uses information on the form and magnitude of natural selection to quantify the effects of trait variation and selection on population dynamics. One goal of this research is to quantify the demographic costs of trait variation and selection for broad variety of traits and organisms.
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(805) 892-2512
lancaster
 nceas [dot] ucsb [dot] edu (Email) |
It is generally unknown whether communities currently exhibiting relatively high biodiversity also promote the evolutionary process of diversification (i.e. speciation). At NCEAS, I am comparing diversification rates among temperate angiosperm clades that have diverged in community membership and niche use. I hope to determine key biological interactions or abiotic conditions which may generally promote speciation and/or reduce extinction across diverse clades. My goal is to target some habitats and communities most important for conservation of future biodiversity.
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I combine algorithms and mathematical models to address relationships between structure and dynamics in large ecological data sets. My approach at NCEAS will be to complement an existing database on ecological networks by introducing behavior and interaction types. I will use this enlarged database to test alternative behavioral models of networks to identify mechanisms generating the structure and dynamics of empirical data. My goal is twofold: to relate structure and dynamics with responses to disturbances and to use networks as a way of integrating behavior within community patterns of species abundance.
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Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) often regulate carbon uptake, and many forests transition from N limitation to co-limitation to P limitation as they develop. At present there is no theoretical framework that determines the conditions under which each resource limits production, or when transitions between the different states occur. I will build such a theoretical framework and, in conjunction with existing data, analyze transitions between the alternate ecosystem states of limitation by N, P, or both.
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Mary O'Connor
(805) 892-2522 oconnor nceas [dot] ucsb [dot] edu (Email) |
Fisheries productivity and population connectivity are two complex ecological processes that are very difficult to study directly. My research aims to develop a quantitative understanding of how these processes vary with environmental conditions. Results will provide insight into the mechanisms governing each process, as well as how the processes change geographically or with climate change. I will focus on the role of temperature in driving variation in food web productivity, and larval dispersal and survival in marine systems.
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My research examines the current movement within ecology to incorporate social science variables, methods and theories to enhance understanding of ecosystem processes. I am conducting a comparative investigation of collaborations and research institutes working to synthesize social-ecological research. My goals are to understand the most effective ways to catalyze disciplinary synthesis, to examine the effects of participation in such efforts on scientific collaborations and careers, and to discover ways in which ecologists and social scientists can best engage with policy makers.
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The C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathway is a fundamental physiological and ecological distinction in tropical savannas and grasslands. Although C4 plants account for 20-25% of global terrestrial productivity, large uncertainties remain regarding their response to climate variability and future climate change. My research addresses the spatial and temporal response of C3 and C4 grasses to interannual climate variability such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation using herbarium, climate, and satellite data over several decades. |
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Anthropogenic and climate change may potentially elicit abundance shifts, population extinction, contemporary evolution, or nonadaptive responses among species experiencing a variety of scenarios. My research at NCEAS involves assessing sensitivity of salmon species to river modifications and climate change throughout their North American ranges, and identifying optimal conservation strategies to promote population resilience. To better predict future population dynamics, I hope to use key insights from case studies detecting adaptive and plastic responses of salmon to 20th century habitat and climate change.
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Dioecious species may suffer a reproductive handicap compared to sympatric cosexual species because populations of dioecious species contain fewer seed-producing individuals. To compensate, natural selection in dioecious populations should favour females that exhibit one or more fitness advantages, which might include: higher fecundity, higher recruitment, precocious or more frequent reproduction, or higher quality offspring. I will integrate phylogenetic information and dynamic demographic and distribution data with trait data on breeding systems to seek evidence for fitness advantages in dioecious taxa. |
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Understanding the extent and cause of tropical insect diversity is challenging and comprehending that diversity generally requires two approaches: 1) rigorous surveys and taxon inventories of insects at particular sites; and 2) reconstructing quantitative food webs demonstrating trophic interactions between species. These two approaches lead to insights on the structuring of insect communities and encompass the major goals of my NCEAS project, which synthesizes extensive biodiversity and genetic datasets for a dominant group of tropical parasitic wasps from Costa Rica. |
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I will use satellite imagery spanning more than 30 years to understand the landscape dynamics (productivity, fragmentation and conversion) in and around Kibale National Park, Uganda. This dynamic landscape will be compared with multiple data sets to understand primate populations dynamics, effects of climate change on park structure and people's livelihoods, and to model disease spread in and between humans and animals. This will serve as a template for projects such as Ebola vaccination in gorillas and controlling SIV and respiratory disease transmission in chimpanzees in Tanzania.
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I am broadly interested in population ecology, particularly in understanding how evolutionary processes affect population dynamics and species interactions. The goal of my NCEAS project is to use stochastic population models to test life history theory regarding when semelparity and iteroparity lead to higher individual fitness, and to examine when iteroparity can buffer population fluctuations. This project will help to refine current theory, and will clarify the connection between selection pressures on individuals and the consequences for population persistence.
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Across systems winter food webs provide key trophic links to the webs of warmer months, often supplying critical resources early in the warm season. Changing climate may disrupt these dynamic links, as winter food webs have less time to develop and spring assemblages establish earlier. Using long-term year-round plankton community datasets, this research will provide knowledge on how spatially and temporally coupled webs may influence trophic structure and stability, and may improve predictions of food web responses to changing climate.
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Huiping Cao 
Stephanie Pau
Josephine Rodriguez
Elizabeth Wolkovich
