I am currently a doctoral student at the
University of California,
Irvine. Under the direction of my advisor, Dr. Lynn Carpenter, I am
studying tropical forest restoration in Costa Rica. I am
interested in the mechanisms whereby certain species of trees
facilitate the establishment and growth of other trees. In the
summer of 2004, I initiated a project to examine how different "nurse
trees", or
early-successional pioneers,
may serve as facilitators of endangered tree species.
