I'm currently working with the Rocky Mountain Research Station and am part of the Great Basin Native Plant Project. In this position, I will be planning and implementing common garden research using key native forb species that are targeted for use in restoration, including: Chaenactis douglasii, Dieteria canescens, and Crepis acuminata. I'm also working with previously collected common garden data for several native perennial grasses to examine relationships between climate variability and phenotypic plasticity. Generally, this position involves research related to the ecology and evolution of native plants and how this information can be used to inform restoration practices.
Post-doctoral Researcher, Leger Lab University of Nevada, Reno
This position focused on two projects looking at the use of native plants in restoration. On one project, I worked with Shannon Still at UC Davis to create species distribution models that predict the geographic distribution of suitable climate for 21 native plant species across the western US. The Bureau of Land Management will eventually incorporate these models into an online tool for restoration managers in order to aid in the selection of appropriate restoration species for particular areas. For the other project, I analyzed data for the biggest wild-collected seed banking project in North America (Seeds of Success). This research will help to highlight key contributions this program has made to preserving both species and genetic diversity of native plants and will help to guide the future directions of the program (manuscript coming soon).