Forecasting and managing the effects of habitat loss, invasive species, and climate change require an expanded understanding of populations’ responses to such stressors. To this end, the Integrative Community Ecology Unit employs theory-informed experiments and mathematical models to mechanistically identify how species interactions — such as competition and mutualism — vary over time and space to influence population dynamics and nutrient cycling in ecosystems. Current foci include the biogeography of plant-microbe interactions, determinants of species’ range limits, and spatial variation in coexistence-promoting mechanisms.
