I am interested in investigating how complex suites of interactions between species in ecological communities influence native plant populations. I am particularly interested in understanding how invasive species (including competing plants and herbivores), which generally are assumed to have negative impacts on native plant populations, may have different effects depending on interactions with other species and under differing abiotic conditions. I also hope to investigate the role pollination, by wind or native invertebrates, plays in these sets of interactions. I take a quantitative, demographic approach to these questions, tying these species interactions to the actual growth, survival, and reproductive rates of focal native plant populations. This approach also allows me to apply these concepts directly to ongoing conservation efforts including restoration outplantings that are attempting to reestablish and augment threatened and endangered native plant populations.
I conduct the majority my research in Hawaii, as its biodiverse but highly invaded terrestrial ecosystems provide excellent opportunities for understanding how native and alien species interact. The Hawaiian Islands host over 1,000 endemic plant species. However, many native plants have become much less abundant since human contact due to negative impacts of invasive species.
My PhD research focuses on populations of the endemic Hawaiian genus Schiedea (Caryophyllaceae), which consists of 34 species evolved from a presumed single colonizing ancestor. The genus represents a striking diversity of breeding systems, including species with separate sexes that are primarily wind pollinated and hermaphroditic species that are insect pollinated. By studying both insect pollinated and wind pollinated species, I aim to identify traits of natives that can predict invader impacts, such as those mediated through native or introduced pollinators. |