Tell us about your background. Where are you from? What brought you to Mpala? Where have you previously studied or conducted research?

I am originally from Montana, where my love for nature first developed hiking and cross-country skiing across the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. In high school, I started my research journey when I joined a lab at the University of Montana to study a bacteria called Wolbachia. Then in college, I went on to major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, where I was able to explore a variety of research topics, including studying abroad in Panama at STRI, and I even had the chance to return to my homestate and study vegetation dynamics in Yellowstone National Park for my senior thesis. After graduating, I joined an aquatic microbiology lab where I gained an interest in microbial ecology as well.

Now, as a PhD student in Tyler Coverdale’s lab at the University of Notre Dame, I have the chance to combine my passions – tropical ecology, microbiology, grasslands, and plant-animal interactions – and work here at Mpala!

What projects are you currently working on at Mpala?

I am currently studying rewilding, or the reintroduction of large herbivores to landscapes that have lost them, and how that impacts plant and microbial communities. I work in the KLEE plots, where this upcoming year, they plan on removing parts of the fences that have excluded herbivores for 30 years to simulate rewilding. I will be measuring how plant and soil microbial communities change in rate and magnitude over time in response to the fence reversals, and I will also deconstruct aspects of herbivore reintroduction by simulating dung/urine and defoliation within total exclusion plots to understand how and why reintroducing herbivores may change a landscape.

What is one of your favorite things about working at Mpala?

I absolutely love the people here at Mpala – everyone here is so kind, hard working, and passionate. I love seeing new faces everyday and getting to learn about their research and interests. And of course, it is even better when these conversations are over a beautiful landscape or at a table playing cards!

What impact do you believe your time at Mpala will have on your professional career?

Being here at Mpala has changed the way that I approach landscape ecology, particularly through the lens of understanding human-wildlife conflict and promoting local communities in conservation work. I have learned so much about the importance of community-building and how to make research safe, effective, and impactful through working with communities, and I will take that with me in my research here at Mpala and abroad throughout my professional career.