Research

Ornithological Work

In 2013, I co-founded the Biodiversity Initiative with Dr. Luke L. Powell and Dr. Jared D. Wolfe. Since then, the Biodiversity Initiative has been focusing on on quantifying the bird and mammal communities of Equatorial Guinea.

I am currently working on my Ph.D. at the University of Chicago and the Field Museum studying the ecology, biogeography, and phylogenetic relationships of African birds.

Please see the publications page to view some of our results from this work.

Photo: Bioko Speirops Zosterops brunneus on Pico Basilé, Bioko Norte, Equatorial Guinea.

Ecological Niche Theory

For my ecological research, I rely broadly on the usage of ecological niche models and ecological data derived from different methods and data sources to understand species' distributions and ecological niches. My Masters research focused on hummingbirds (see left for a map of hummingbird species richness in Peru), and resulted in a methodological paper on designing niche modeling studies.

My work is now broadly focused on determining niche divergence and niche evolution within and between montane bird species. This work seeks to resolve species limits in poorly understood bird groups, while simultaneously shedding light on how biogeographic processes shape distributions and lead to ecological diversification.