Students

Elena AguaronMonica AparicioJackson AudleyGabrielle BohlmanMaisie BorgRyan ByrnesRosalie CarnamMason EarlesAaron HaimanMila HickenbottomStacy HishinumaKassandra KasparekJake MadisonLaura MoralesRoisin Murphy-DeakJan NgShawn OverstreetAida Sofia Rivera SoteloNoam RossAllison SimlerBrian SmithersColleen SpurlockJens StevensAnita ToBenjamin WaitmanAlexandra WeillKevin WelchChhaya WernerDerek YoungYuanting Zheng

Department: Plant Science/Geography

E-mail: eaguaron@ucdavis.edu

Phone: 530-574-2479

Department: Environmental Science and Policy

E-mail: maparicio@ucdavis.edu

Website: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/monica-aparicio/37/33/497/en

Research: I’m interested in GIS analysis, habitat connectivity, forest management and rehabilitation of degraded areas.

Department: Entomology

E-mail: jpaudley@ucdavis.edu

Research: I am interested in studying the interaction between invasive bark and wood-boring beetles and native trees and forest ecosystems. My current research in the Seybold lab is focused on the chemical and behavioral ecology of the walnut twig beetle, an invasive scolytid that attacks walnut trees and vectors the fungal pathogen Geosmithia morbida. Together, these organisms comprise the insect-pathogen complex known as thousand cankers disease. We seek to develop volatile repellents as a means of disrupting the beetle’s host recognition mechanisms and thus protect trees from successful attacks.

Department: Plant Sciences

E-mail: gnbohlman@ucdavis.edu

Department: Environmental Science & Policy

E-mail: maborg@ucdavis.edu

Phone: 707-227-0393

Department: Plant Sciences/International Ag. Dev.

E-mail: rbyrnes@ucdavis.edu

Research: I am interested in forestry in the context of agroforestry in international agricultural development. Specifically, I am interested in understanding both the social and biophysical implications of the implementation of agroforestry systems in agricultural systems. I am also interested in looking at how these systems could benefit small-holder farming communities in terms of ecosystem services, access to nutritious foods and increasing the profitability and productivity of farming systems.

Department: Plant Pathology

E-mail: racarnam@ucdavis.edu

Phone: 707-499-9221

Department: Plant Sciences (Ecology)

E-mail: jmearles@ucdavis.edu

Research: I’m interested in fire, climate change, and forest dynamics. Currently, I’m examining how forest structure and productivity differ under historic and modern fire regimes in California. I’m also interested in how changing climatic conditions will affect fire regimes and subsequently species distribution.

Department: Animal Behavior

E-mail: anhaiman@ucdavis.edu

Research: I study the effects of behaviors on social associations and divergence of a forest songbird, the Evening Grosbeak. The first step towards conserving biodiversity is to determine how many species and subspecies exist. To this end I am have examined the vocal and physical differences that exist between different geographic populations of Evening Grosbeaks, and whether they represent separate subspecies. Determining if any of these differences act as barriers to mixing between these populations, and also whether any of these differences represent adaptations to specific resources will be the focus of my current work. For example, different calls exist, but do individuals respond more strongly to their own call type or the calls of others? Different bill shapes exist, but is this an indication that different populations eat different seeds and so use different types of habitat? These questions, and others like them, are crucial to understanding and preserving the natural world around us, and I hope to pursue their answers in my career as an avian biologist.

Department: Plant Sciences

E-mail: medunbar@ucdavis.edu

Phone: 206-660-9498

Department: Entomology

E-mail: smhishin@ucdavis.edu

Phone: 818-624-8021

Department: Biotechnology

E-mail: kassandra16@gmail.com

Phone: 831-622-9058

E-mail: jameszheng66@gmail.com

Phone: 415-218-4170

Department: Plant Sciences

E-mail: lvmorales@ucdavis.edu

Research: I am generally interested in linking research to management practice and needs, particularly in the context of restoration and conservation. Polylepis forests & woodlands in the Peruvian Andes are my current area of study. Specifically I am interested in improving knowledge of the ecology of these forests using both observational and manipulative studies that can inform us as to the feasibility of alternative management interventions besides active reforestation. I focus on understanding early regeneration & grassland colonization dynamics in addressing questions like 1) Could forest patches potentially expand to surrounding grasslands given human land-use (grazing & fire)?, 2) Would passive restoration work in such a landscape and on what timescale & how feasible would implementing it be? 3) How might changing climate influence the regeneration at forest edges? Research interests: Restoration ecology, human land-use, forest conservation, plant demography, tropical & alpine ecology, natural resource management

Department: Environmental Science & Policy

E-mail: ramurphydeak@ucdavis.edu

Phone: 510-846-4398

Department: Plant Sciences (Ecology)

E-mail: jnyng@ucdavis.edu

Research: I am interested in the role that coarse woody debris plays in seedling regeneration, and how this role might change among forests with different disturbance regimes. I am also interested in forest management strategies, and how cultural perceptions of nature influence the ways in which we interact with it.

Department: Horticulture & Agronomy

E-mail: smoverstreet@ucdavis.edu

Research: I am interested in oaks, chestnuts, and masting behavior.

Department: Socio-cultural Anthropology

E-mail: ariverasotelo@ucdavis.edu

Research: Grounded in the low part of the Cauca River Basin in Colombia, where there is an ongoing armed conflict and various gold mining operations, I ask whether or not reforestation practices by various entrepreneurs, campesinos and local governments are able to improve soil conditions, water and nutrients? Do the armed confrontations and the diverse mining operations frustrate any restauration possibility? Do the private decisions of the various actors about what trees to grow and under what conditions affect the growing conditions of forests? Might the emerging conditions of multi-species competition and facilitation exceed the degradation effects of war and gold mining?

Department: Environmental Science and Policy

E-mail: nmross@ucdavis.edu

Website: http://www.noamross.net/

Research: I am interested in problems related to forecasting non-linear changes in ecosystems, how to use such forecasts in decision making. In particular, I am interested in finding ways to predict imminent die-offs in forests stressed by drought and insect outbreaks, and currently work on pinyon forests of the American Southwest.

Department: Plant Pathology

E-mail: absimler@ucdavis.edu

Department: Plant Sciences

E-mail: bsmithers@ucdavis.edu

Research: Things that live on the edge interest me, specifically plants that live on the edge of their tolerable range. I am currently looking at range shift of sub-alpine forests in the face of climate change. While we know that trees are in the process of moving upslope and poleward in reaction to climate change, I am interested in finding the actual mechanisms of how those species shift, be it by novel competition, fire regime change, abiotic tolerance, some combination, or better yet, something that we haven’t figured out yet!

Department: Plant Sciences

E-mail: clspurlock@ucdavis.edu

Phone: 707-496-1032

Department: Plant Sciences (Ecology)

E-mail: jtstevens@ucdavis.edu

Phone: 530-752-5011

Website: http://www.stevensjt.net/

Research: I am interested in plant population and community responses to human activities in forests, including both direct management practices and indirect changes to climate and fire regimes. My research includes a study on the effects of fuels treatments on forest regeneration and diversity after wildfire in Sierra forests. I am also conducting a transplant study examining interacting effects of snowpack, fire and forest structure on forest invasion by the woody shrubs Scotch and Spanish broom, and a separate study investigating how precipitation variability affects native shrub regeneration across an elevation gradient.

Department: Plant Sciences

E-mail: bawaitma@ucdavis.edu

Phone: 530-754-8729

Department: Plant Sciences / Ecology

E-mail: amweill@ucdavis.edu

Website: http://amweill.weebly.com/

Department: Ecology

E-mail: kevin.boca@gmail.com

Phone: 415-385-0660

Department: Population Biology

E-mail: cwerner@ucdavis.edu

Department: Plant Sciences

E-mail: djyoung@ucdavis.edu

Website: http://www.changingforests.com/

Research: I am interested in the ecology, management, and restoration of California forests under climate change. I am working to identify situations in which the natural migratory and/or adaptive capacity of tree populations will be insufficient to keep pace with expected changes in climate. I am also interested in evaluating potential management interventions for maintaining healthy forests when natural capacity to respond to climate change is insufficient.

E-mail: ytzheng@ucdavis.edu

Phone: 530-601-8746