Tyler Coverdale, Assistant Professor
I'm a community ecologist interested in the ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions. Research in my lab focuses on several related topics: integrating plant responses to changing biotic and abiotic conditions at scales ranging from genes to landscapes; exploring the contributions of plant-plant interactions to ecosystem function and ecological resilience; and understanding evolutionary and ecological drivers of plant defenses. We aim to identify the mechanisms underlying plant resilience (or susceptibility) to human impacts, with the ultimate goal of conserving and restoring plant communities.
|
Pronouns: he/him/his Office: Galvin Life Science Center, Room 145 Lab: Galvin Life Science Center, Room 233
Email: [email protected] CV | Google Scholar | Twitter
Email: [email protected] CV | Google Scholar | Twitter
Emily Wedel, Postdoctoral Fellow
Society of Science Fellows Emily recently finished her Ph.D. at Kansas State University, where her research focused on the encroachment and resource-use strategies of woody plants in tallgrass prairie and lowveld savanna. She is interested in understanding how plant physiological responses to drought, fire, and herbivory (or lack thereof) can drive changes in plant communities. Broadly, Emily’s research at Notre Dame will focus on plant community responses to the exclusion of large African herbivores. Emily is in the inaugural cohort of the Society of Science Fellows!
Pronouns: she/her/hers Email: [email protected] Website |
Max Scheel, Graduate Student
Max's research aims to understand and predict how plant species composition in Eastern U.S. ecosystems could change in the face of human impacts and climate change. More specifically, he's interested in studying how plant species can utilize various strategies including nutrient acquisition, mycorrhizal fungal associations, drought tolerance and shade tolerance in order to compete spatially.
Pronouns: he/him/his Email: [email protected] |
Evan Foster, Graduate Student
Evan is a plant community ecologist interested in understanding how global environmental change and species interactions influence present and future community composition. He has previously explored these topics in tropical, arid, and marine systems, and looks forward to exploring these topics within the savanna ecosystems at Mpala Research Centre and across East Africa over the course of his PhD studies.
Pronouns: he/him/his Email: [email protected] |
Sophia Richter, Graduate Student
Sophia is a community ecologist interested in questions related to species interactions, ecosystem functioning, and conservation. During her undergrad, she majored in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, where her thesis explored the effects of ungulate grazing on grassland communities in Yellowstone. After graduating, she worked in a freshwater microbiology lab before moving to Notre Dame. For her PhD, she hopes to combine these interests to explore the interactions between grazing animals, plants, and microbes and the ecosystem-wide consequences of disrupting these relationships. In her free time, she loves to read sci-fi, cross-country ski, and see live music!
Pronouns: she/her/hers Email: [email protected] |
Notre Dame Undergraduates
Former Students (2010-2022)
Ella Bradford (Harvard '24) compiled and analyzed a number of long-term datasets related to our project on the impacts of megaherbivores on vegetation structural complexity in African savannas. She was awarded funding from the Center for African Studies to join us on our field trip to Mpala Research Centre (Kenya) in January 2022.
Nathaniel Carlson (Cornell '23) assisted with several projects from 2019-2021 and was awarded two(!) competitive fellowships for summer research. Most recently, he took the lead on compiling a decade of data from the UHURU long-term herbivore exclosure plots in Kenya and is a co-author on the (recently accepted) second UHURU data paper.
Chelsea Lee (Cornell '21) helped with field, greenhouse, and lab projects from 2018-2020, including tirelessly marking tens (hundreds?) of thousands of trichomes from milkweed leaves.
David Alvarez (Humboldt State University '22) was awarded an NSF REU through Cornell's Boyce Thompson Institute and assisted with field and greenhouse projects focused on understanding shade tolerance in the milkweed genus Asclepias.
Chelsea Lee (Cornell '21) helped with field, greenhouse, and lab projects from 2018-2020, including tirelessly marking tens (hundreds?) of thousands of trichomes from milkweed leaves.
David Alvarez (Humboldt State University '22) was awarded an NSF REU through Cornell's Boyce Thompson Institute and assisted with field and greenhouse projects focused on understanding shade tolerance in the milkweed genus Asclepias.
Anna Marsh (Princeton '20) spent three months in Kenya as a Princeton Environmental Institute Intern assisting with the collection of demographic data to understand the long-term consequences of associational resistance in savanna plants.
Azwad Iqbal (Princeton '19) was awarded a Princeton Environmental Institute Internship to assist with a variety of field projects in Kenya and is currently a research specialist with Lindy McBride.
Azwad Iqbal (Princeton '19) was awarded a Princeton Environmental Institute Internship to assist with a variety of field projects in Kenya and is currently a research specialist with Lindy McBride.
Ryan O'Connell (Princeton '17) spent two memorable summers at Mpala Research Centre, first assisting with (and co-authoring) a study on induced defenses in Solanum campylacanthum before returning to complete an incredible independent senior thesis on liana dynamics in the Afrotropics recently published in PNAS; Ryan is currently pursuing a PhD at Duke.
Vinny Amaral (Princeton '17) assisted with a variety of projects as a PEI intern in Kenya before starting his NSF-funded PhD in Chemical Oceanography at UCSC.
Ian McGeary (Princeton '16) helped Princeton win the Ivy League Championship in football before publishing his senior thesis work on induced defenses in Solanum campylacanthum in Oikos.
Ben Culver (Princeton '16) spent three months assisting with projects in Kenya, and memorably removed more than 100,000 spines from Barleria trispinosa in a single week.
Katie Grabowski (Princeton '16) spent an incredible summer at Mpala Research Centre that culminated in a co-authored paper on the effect of elephants on understory plant diversity; Katie went on to get a MsC from Oxford's Biodiversity, Conservation[,] and Management program (note Oxford's own neglect of the Oxford comma...) and is currently a PhD student in the McGill-STRI NEO program.
Vinny Amaral (Princeton '17) assisted with a variety of projects as a PEI intern in Kenya before starting his NSF-funded PhD in Chemical Oceanography at UCSC.
Ian McGeary (Princeton '16) helped Princeton win the Ivy League Championship in football before publishing his senior thesis work on induced defenses in Solanum campylacanthum in Oikos.
Ben Culver (Princeton '16) spent three months assisting with projects in Kenya, and memorably removed more than 100,000 spines from Barleria trispinosa in a single week.
Katie Grabowski (Princeton '16) spent an incredible summer at Mpala Research Centre that culminated in a co-authored paper on the effect of elephants on understory plant diversity; Katie went on to get a MsC from Oxford's Biodiversity, Conservation[,] and Management program (note Oxford's own neglect of the Oxford comma...) and is currently a PhD student in the McGill-STRI NEO program.
Sinead Crotty (Brown '15) assisted with a variety of projects in New England salt marshes as a Voss Fellow, culminating in a co-authored paper in Ecology Letters; Sinead went on to do her PhD at the University of Florida.
Matt Bevil (Brown '14) spent a memorable summer working as a Voss Fellow on Cape Cod and co-authored a paper on experimental salt marsh die-off before getting a MsC in Natural Resources from Iowa State.
Eric Young (Brown '13) spent one summer as a field assistant on Cape Cod and published two papers on salt marsh die-off before pursuing a graduate degree at Harvard!
Caitlin Brisson (Brown '12) was a tour de force in her time at Brown, co-authoring seven(!) papers on salt marsh die-off in just over two years.
Eric Axelman (Brown '12) worked on New England salt marsh die-off for two years, co-authoring papers in Ecology and PLoS One; he is perhaps best known for his iconic performance of the Bertness Rock Anthem at the 42nd Benthic Ecology Meetings.
Steph Yin (Brown '12) was a Voss Fellow at Brown and co-authored a paper on belowground carbon losses in salt marshes experiencing die-off; Steph went on to get an MA in journalism from NYU.
Matt Bevil (Brown '14) spent a memorable summer working as a Voss Fellow on Cape Cod and co-authored a paper on experimental salt marsh die-off before getting a MsC in Natural Resources from Iowa State.
Eric Young (Brown '13) spent one summer as a field assistant on Cape Cod and published two papers on salt marsh die-off before pursuing a graduate degree at Harvard!
Caitlin Brisson (Brown '12) was a tour de force in her time at Brown, co-authoring seven(!) papers on salt marsh die-off in just over two years.
Eric Axelman (Brown '12) worked on New England salt marsh die-off for two years, co-authoring papers in Ecology and PLoS One; he is perhaps best known for his iconic performance of the Bertness Rock Anthem at the 42nd Benthic Ecology Meetings.
Steph Yin (Brown '12) was a Voss Fellow at Brown and co-authored a paper on belowground carbon losses in salt marshes experiencing die-off; Steph went on to get an MA in journalism from NYU.