Sustainability Leadership Cohort: 2017-2018
Ph.D. Student, Department of Biology
Graduate Degree Program in Ecology
Research Summary: My research focuses on the changes in the functional structure of aquatic insect communities across altitudinal and latitudinal ranges (Tropics vs temperate zones). Functional structure relates to the number, type, and distribution of functions performed by organisms within an ecosystem. I want to know how different latitudes and elevations affect the functional diversity of aquatic insects, and also how insect’s function in streams respond to changes in canopy cover and water temperature along altitudinal gradients in temperate streams. This knowledge could give stream ecology science some insight in how climate change and loss of riparian vegetation affect the whole stream.