Team

Caroline is a a plant and soil ecologist working at the interface of community and ecosystem ecology. Her research program broadly seeks to understand the ecology of terrestrial ecosystems and their responses to global change. She is currently a postdoc at the US Geological Survey Southwest Biological Science Center and Read more…

Bijan is a quantitative environmental scientist with special expertise on geospatial analyses, remote sensing, hierarchical Bayesian statistics and physics-based modeling. The overarching questions that he is interested in are: “how does climate change influence ecosystem dynamics?” and “how do climate change impacts vary spatially and temporally?” Full Curriculum Vitae Selected Read more…

Trees are uniquely long lived, and so their responses to the environment integrate climate across multiple time scales. Peltier uses tree rings to ask questions about tree physiology over longer time scales, and how that physiology is altered by global change drivers, particularly drought. Peltier’s research 1) quantifies global change Read more…

Tatia is researching inter- and intraspecific variation in Southwest forb species, and how these variations impact native pollinator communities in a restoration context.  She hopes the results of her thesis project can inform regional restoration specialists about ideal forb species that are robust in performance across a variety of ecoregions Read more…

Sheriff’s research seeks to understand the mechanisms underlying the variable growth response of South Western trees to dry conditions. Although this variability likely involves multiple factors, maintenance of xylem water transport may be the key response. She has chosen to analyze xylem contained in the rings of Pinus edulis and Read more…

Courtney’s research focus is on the relationship between freshwater microbial communities and aquatic insects during leaf litter decomposition. Prior to NAU, Courtney worked as field trip educator for the Ohio River Foundation in the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Here, she shared her passion for science by teaching students the ecology of Read more…

Kyoko’s interest is in how climate change affects boreal forests, particularly disturbance regimes such as wildfire and how it changes the vegetation, its vulnerability and resilience. Her research will be held in interior Alaska where temperatures are expected to increase in a larger magnitude and increasing fire intensity and frequency Read more…

Pegoraro’s research interests are aimed at understanding and quantifying carbon cycle responses to warming temperatures and its potential positive feedback on climate change. Her research is focused on permafrost soils in tundra ecosystems. She would like to disseminate scientific knowledge to a general audience. Pegoraro plans to bridge that gap Read more…