I study community ecology in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems – including temporary freshwaters (e.g., vernal pools and intermittent streams). My research focuses on the impacts that habitat modification, via natural and anthropogenic disturbance, have on plant communities and ecosystem functioning. Habitat modification often alters processes like flooding and drying regimes, creating feedbacks that favor invasive species and decrease native biodiversity. During my PhD, I plan to research how in intermittent freshwater ecosystems, abiotic and biotic variables (e.g., soil properties, water availability, and plant communities) may interact to influence the animal ‘seedbank’, and thus ecological succession in these fluctuating environments. [co-advised with Laureano Gherardi]