I am interested in how climate change is influencing alpine plant communities across the planet:
How are alpine plant communities changing over time? What biophysical factors influence plant community response to changing macro-climates? How do different climate factors contribute to community change (extreme high/low temperatures; changes in number of growing degree days; snow pack)?
To investigate how alpine communities are affected by the changing climate, I have sampled alpine plant communities and soil temperatures from 19 monitoring plots in 4 states across Western North America as part of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments long term monitoring effort (https://www.gloria.ac.at/). Sampling occurs in 5 year intervals and many sites are now in their 2nd or 3rd sampling.