GIS analysis of impervious surface in Battery Park, Manhattan, NY
What Do I Call Myself?
I view myself as a socio-ecosystem researcher = a researcher that uses a socio-ecological framework (considering both people and nature as driving forces in environmental processes) in studying system function. With this mindset, my work crosses disciplines such as restoration and conservation ecology, earth systems and environmental geoscience, geography, natural resource management, anthropology/sociology, and policy/law to ask and answer pressing, contemporary questions involving the natural scape.
What Types of Systems Do I Look At?
My favorite system to look at are urban ecosystems. I think urbanization is the most pressing environmental issue of the 21st century, and studying cities can give us a lot of insight on how people interact with nature at different scales (from individual relationships to the governmental; in terms of land-use, planning, decision-making; etc.). I think cities as a system are interesting because of how overtly dramatic the clash between "natural" and "human-made" is within them, and that there are so many components that interact in order to make them work as inherently imperfect systems. But above all else, urban ecology is a growing field with many interesting questions still left to look at, and try to answer.
In recent times, I've grown a fondness for wetlands due to the unique ways in which their soil, water, and plant components interact, the challenges they face in terms of restoration and conservation, and because I like any excuse to get muddy. I also have secondary interests in working in forests. I'm not interested in oceanic environments, nor in extreme environments (deserts and arctic).
What Samples Do I Collect?
My favorite medium to study is soil. I think soil is interesting in that it is truly the thing that sustains all live on Earth, but people don't necessarily give it the credit and attention it deserves, neither in a social nor conservation context (the biggest exception being for agriculture). Plus, soil can tell us a lot about an environment, from a system's nutrient contents (ie. using [biogeo]-chemistry methods), to biota (ie. soil microbes, soil macrofauna like worms, and larger-scale community biodiversity through advances in environmental DNA), and paleoclimates and community changes (ie. pollen grains, and macrofossils). Additionally, I'm also interested in studying continental waters, both free-standing (ie. swamps, marshes, bogs) and running (ie. rivers, streams, riparian). I like to examine soil and water samples for environmental chemical signatures (mainly with organics and heavy metal contaminants, but also in nitrogen and phosphorus).
In terms of biota, I'm interested in aspects of botany and dendrology (trees), particularly when it comes to plant and tree services, ecology and biodiversity, and soil/water conservation. I have a "budding" interest in mycology (fungi) and lichenology (lichen), as well as entomology (insects) - mostly in relations to my core aspects of study. While I dabble here-and-there with animals, I'm not primarily interested in wildlife ecology.
What Datasets Do I Work With and Analyze?
I tend to work evenly with ecological and social data when conducting research. I'm interested in incorporating unique data from the environmental humanities (such as from works of literature, art, film/stage, music, and other cultural staples) in conjecture with the typical social data typically used in ecology (like human population trends, policy analysis, etc.) in fully understanding people's relationships with the world around them.
I'm competent in working with both quantitative and qualitative datasets. I typically combine different analyses, usually involving different means of field methods, lab work, spatial analysis (primarily ArcGIS), and statistics (primarily through RStudio). I'm interested in further using remote sensing, modeling (statistical and spatial), and working with historical GIS (HGIS).
I view myself as a socio-ecosystem researcher = a researcher that uses a socio-ecological framework (considering both people and nature as driving forces in environmental processes) in studying system function. With this mindset, my work crosses disciplines such as restoration and conservation ecology, earth systems and environmental geoscience, geography, natural resource management, anthropology/sociology, and policy/law to ask and answer pressing, contemporary questions involving the natural scape.
What Types of Systems Do I Look At?
My favorite system to look at are urban ecosystems. I think urbanization is the most pressing environmental issue of the 21st century, and studying cities can give us a lot of insight on how people interact with nature at different scales (from individual relationships to the governmental; in terms of land-use, planning, decision-making; etc.). I think cities as a system are interesting because of how overtly dramatic the clash between "natural" and "human-made" is within them, and that there are so many components that interact in order to make them work as inherently imperfect systems. But above all else, urban ecology is a growing field with many interesting questions still left to look at, and try to answer.
In recent times, I've grown a fondness for wetlands due to the unique ways in which their soil, water, and plant components interact, the challenges they face in terms of restoration and conservation, and because I like any excuse to get muddy. I also have secondary interests in working in forests. I'm not interested in oceanic environments, nor in extreme environments (deserts and arctic).
What Samples Do I Collect?
My favorite medium to study is soil. I think soil is interesting in that it is truly the thing that sustains all live on Earth, but people don't necessarily give it the credit and attention it deserves, neither in a social nor conservation context (the biggest exception being for agriculture). Plus, soil can tell us a lot about an environment, from a system's nutrient contents (ie. using [biogeo]-chemistry methods), to biota (ie. soil microbes, soil macrofauna like worms, and larger-scale community biodiversity through advances in environmental DNA), and paleoclimates and community changes (ie. pollen grains, and macrofossils). Additionally, I'm also interested in studying continental waters, both free-standing (ie. swamps, marshes, bogs) and running (ie. rivers, streams, riparian). I like to examine soil and water samples for environmental chemical signatures (mainly with organics and heavy metal contaminants, but also in nitrogen and phosphorus).
In terms of biota, I'm interested in aspects of botany and dendrology (trees), particularly when it comes to plant and tree services, ecology and biodiversity, and soil/water conservation. I have a "budding" interest in mycology (fungi) and lichenology (lichen), as well as entomology (insects) - mostly in relations to my core aspects of study. While I dabble here-and-there with animals, I'm not primarily interested in wildlife ecology.
What Datasets Do I Work With and Analyze?
I tend to work evenly with ecological and social data when conducting research. I'm interested in incorporating unique data from the environmental humanities (such as from works of literature, art, film/stage, music, and other cultural staples) in conjecture with the typical social data typically used in ecology (like human population trends, policy analysis, etc.) in fully understanding people's relationships with the world around them.
I'm competent in working with both quantitative and qualitative datasets. I typically combine different analyses, usually involving different means of field methods, lab work, spatial analysis (primarily ArcGIS), and statistics (primarily through RStudio). I'm interested in further using remote sensing, modeling (statistical and spatial), and working with historical GIS (HGIS).
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