I study the ecological effects of climate change on plant communities from shifts in flowering phenology to shifts in treeline. My research explores these changes over multiple time scales — from the current growing season to the recent Anthropocene to the last 15,000 years — in partnerships with managers and conservation practitioners. I am interested in underutilized sources of historical ecology data including herbarium specimens, field notebooks, photographs, and old floras; the potential for community-based participatory science in phenology research; and the intersection of science and policy.
In 2020-2022, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at Colby College.
I continue to lead projects from my David H. Smith Conservation Research and Second Century Stewardship Fellowships in collaboration with Dr. Jacquelyn Gill at the University of Maine and Dr. Abe Miller-Rushing at Acadia National Park. My field sites are located in Acadia National Park and Baxter State Park, Maine, where I work with the Climate Change Institute at University of Maine, the National Park Service, Baxter State Park Authority, Schoodic Education and Research Center, the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, and Maine Natural History Observatory.
RESEARCH
Conservation from natural history, historical ecology, and paleobiology in Maine