Understanding How Biodiversity is Distributed in Space and Time
Understanding how and why biodiversity is distributed the way it is across space and time is key to generating reliable predictions of biodiversity in unexplored regions or future time periods.
Developing an improved knowledge of how and why species and communities are found in certain numbers at certain places and times is crucial for identifying likely future changes in nature’s contribution to people, incoporating ecosystem feedbacks in global circulation models that predict changes in climate, or predicting the potential future spread of invasive species and diseases, to name but a few of the primary real-life applications.
A portion of my research aims to contribute to this body of knowledge, even if an immediate application has not been identified, with the understanding that merely filling biodiversity knowledge gaps is likely to improve potential future decisions and applications related to biodiversity conservation and management.