Welcome to the Farrior Lab!
Our website has now moved to:https://farriorlab.github.io
Please visit that site.
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Plants are currently providing a huge service to humans by sequestering ¼ of the molecules emitted through anthropogenic activities and slowing the pace of climate change. But, our ability to predict this service in the future and to accurately manage ecosystems is limited by our understanding of plant ecology. In particular, we struggle to connect the scales of individual plants to landscape dynamics and global patterns.
Because experiments are impossible across these scales, in the Farrior lab, we use models to connect them and generate predictions testable with data we can collect. Through this integration of mechanistic models and data, we generate new insights into the fundamental governing principles of plant communities – principles we hope will hold in the future under the novel environmental conditions that come with climate change.
We value the contributions that the diversity of human experiences bring to our scientific community. We work to understand one another's challenges, support one another, and value the well-being of all of our members.
If you are interested, check out the Joining the lab tab and don't hesitate to get in touch!
Latest News
Tropical to temperate forest dynamics and their potential influences on plant performance strategies, a theory-data fusion approach
June 1, 2023NSF CAREER award. We are happy to announce a new five-year grant for research, education, and outreach. In this project, we will study the differences and similarities in forest dynamics across biomes. We will use our findings to determine the effects of the differences in forest dynamics on dominant plant strategies and their diversity across biomes. The research will include a back-and-forth between theoretical and empirical work. This work is in collaboration with several researchers in the ForestGeo network, where large forest dynamics plots are studied across the world.
The educational and outreach goals of the project are to improve the inclusivity of theoretical ecology and the integration of theoretical and empirical research. Specifically, we will offer workshops and research experiences in theoretical ecology and forest dynamics modeling catering to all, regardless of mathematical background.
Details of the project, including a postdoc position and two graduate student positions are available here.
New paper on temperate forest dynamics
May 1, 2023Our paper on the likely important role of lower performance of the largest trees in temperate forest dynamics is out now in Forest Ecology and Management. This work on the Wind River forest dynamics plots was led by our own Emily Francis and done in collaboration with the fantastic Jim Lutz. We combined LiDAR data, traditional forest inventory data, and simple models to work through this hypothesis. Link to paperCaroline to go to iDiv for a sabbatical.
May 9, 2023Caroline has been selected as a Sabbatical Fellow at iDiv, the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research in Leipzig, Germany. Caroline will be at iDiv from November 2023 to May 2024.Caroline elected as an ESA Early Career Fellow