Magnificent ocean giants
Tracking blue whales through oceanic corridors.
March 27, 2025
Blue whales, the largest animals on Earth, travel hidden ocean highways.
Blue whales, the largest animals on Earth, travel hidden ocean highways.
A NASA plane came to Panama to acquire aerial images to inform scientists about the diversity of tropical ecosystems. At the same time, researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama collected similar data from the ground. The goal: to create an algorithm to better understand tropical ecosystems using satellite remote sensing in the future.
The air moving above the forest carries valuable information about how trees absorb carbon, and what may happen in the future as global temperatures rise.
A groundbreaking study of 7000-year-old exposed coral reef fossils reveals how human fishing has transformed Caribbean reef food webs: as sharks declined by 75% and fish preferred by humans became smaller, prey fish species flourished —doubling in numbers and growing larger. This unprecedented look into prehistoric reef communities shows how the loss of top predators cascaded through the entire food web, shifting the balance amongst coral reefs.
In my lab we try to understand how climate change affects tropical forests by studying how environmental factors influence the physiology and ecology of tropical trees and lianas. We are interested in identifying threshold temperatures for various aspects of plant performance, including carbon...
The most intensively studied
tropical forest in the world
I specialize in forest ecosystem ecology, global change ecology, and climate protection through forest conservation. My approach combines data synthesis and analysis, quantitative ecology, and field research and focuses on understanding how climate — and climate change — shape ecosystems, and...
My research investigates ecological and evolutionary influences on variation in rainforest communities across the tropics. The overarching goal of my research is to understand broad-scale patterns in the diversity and dynamics of tropical rainforests. Understanding how the environment constrains...
In one of the wildest places
in Central America
My research interests span a broad range of subjects from conservation biology and restoration ecology to collaborations with social scientist and economists on subjects related to human behavior and land management. The common theme is the applied nature of my work and the effort to provide...