Bio

I am interested in how competitive interactions create order in complex ecosystems. My research investigates the key mechanisms behind species coexistence in high-diversity communities such as tropical forests. I ask questions like How can we measure the relative roles of deterministic and stochastic forces in creating biodiversity patterns, and What can species traits reveal about the underlying ecological dynamics?

My approach is to use mathematical modeling and computer simulations to investigate how elements of biological complexity impact community diversity and trait structure. Focusing on competitive dynamics, I have examined how outcomes are affected by immigration, regional diversity, genetic mutations, multidimensional niche space, intraspecific variation, demographic structure, and environmental spatial structure.

Expertise

• ecology
• theoretical community ecology
• species coexistence
• competition
• niche theory
• neutral theory of biodiversity

Education

• 2005   B.S. (cum laude) Physics:  Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 2008   M.S. Physics:  Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 2010   M.A. Physics: Stony Brook University
• 2016   Ph.D. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan. Supervisor: Annette Ostling  
• 2016-2020 Postdoc at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Supervisor: James O'Dwyer