Currently, my research focuses on understanding how disturbance events, such as a pest infestation or a pathogen attack, impact forest carbon cycling and storage. The overarching goal of my research is to gain a better understanding of the mechanistic controls on carbon movement through forest systems.

All of the questions addressed in my dissertation were designed to take advantage of a large-scale tree girdling experiment, located at Black Rock Forest (southeastern NY). Tree girdling experiments are relatively rare and offer an opportunity to study a variety of questions related to the belowground carbon cycle. Some of the topics that I have been studying include:

1) Partitioning the relative contributions of autotrophs (mostly plants) and heterotrophs (decomposers) to total soil respiration (the CO2 leaving the soil surface and entering the atmosphere)

2) The temporal response of soil respiration following experimental disturbance

3) The short-term impact of disturbance on soil organic carbon storage.

Overall, I enjoy thinking about interactions between the physical and biological environment at the tree or ecosystem levels.