Welcome!
My research focuses on understanding the development and maintenance of diversity. I use large-scale field experiments and observational studies to parse apart the drivers of community assembly in both old-growth and heavily disturbed forest ecosystems. By highlighting diverse yet understudied groups of plants, epiphytes and understory herbs, my research expands ecological theory and provides strategies to sustain high-diversity ecosystems in the future. There's a lot more to the forest than just the trees!
Big News
COMING SOON: The Spicer Lab at Lehigh University! I'll be starting as an Assistant Professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department in Fall 2023. If you are interested in a lab technician position and have some greenhouse experience OR you're ready to apply for a plant community ecology-focused PhD position, get in touch! Please think about these questions and reach out to me with a brief statement summarizing:
1. What research do you think you'd like to collaborate on? Are any methods I use particularly exciting to you?
2. What relevant experience would you bring to this position?
3. How would this position further your career goals?
1. What research do you think you'd like to collaborate on? Are any methods I use particularly exciting to you?
2. What relevant experience would you bring to this position?
3. How would this position further your career goals?
About me
Surveying vascular epiphytes in the trees of Santa Fé National Park in Veraguas, Panama. PC: Yusan Yang.
I am currently a postdoc co-advised by Dr. Liza Comita in the Yale School of the Environment and Dr. Carrie Woods in the University of Puget Sound Biology Department. I study the assembly and development of epiphyte communities in Panama and in the Pacific Northwest (abstract here). My research and DEIJ activities are funded through the National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology under the directorate for Increasing Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology.
I got my PhD in the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Pittsburgh. As part of Dr. Walter Carson's research group, my work focused on disturbance ecology and community assembly. In western Pennsylvania, I used long-term deer exclosures and vegetation removals to experimentally test the long-term effects of overabundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on understory plant diversity and abundance, and test how human land practices mediate plant-herbivore interactions. In the Santa Fé National Park in Veraguas, Panama, I set up a long-term experiment testing several community assembly hypotheses, which paved the way for my postdoctoral research.
Prior to my PhD, I completed a Masters in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Lehigh University, working with Dr. Robert Booth. My thesis work was a comparative study of the long-term successional patterns of planted and naturally regrowing forests in eastern Pennsylvania (project blog). I also did my undergrad at Lehigh, where I got a BS in an interdisciplinary engineering honors program (IDEAS), with concentrations in chemical engineering and environmental sustainability.
I got my PhD in the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Pittsburgh. As part of Dr. Walter Carson's research group, my work focused on disturbance ecology and community assembly. In western Pennsylvania, I used long-term deer exclosures and vegetation removals to experimentally test the long-term effects of overabundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on understory plant diversity and abundance, and test how human land practices mediate plant-herbivore interactions. In the Santa Fé National Park in Veraguas, Panama, I set up a long-term experiment testing several community assembly hypotheses, which paved the way for my postdoctoral research.
Prior to my PhD, I completed a Masters in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Lehigh University, working with Dr. Robert Booth. My thesis work was a comparative study of the long-term successional patterns of planted and naturally regrowing forests in eastern Pennsylvania (project blog). I also did my undergrad at Lehigh, where I got a BS in an interdisciplinary engineering honors program (IDEAS), with concentrations in chemical engineering and environmental sustainability.
