My laboratory develops new mathematical, statistical and computational methods for the analysis of ecological data. Common themes in the laboratory are:
The dynamics of large ecological systems
We all know that there are millions of species on Earth. Yet, most ecological models consider small systems composed of only a handful of populations. We use methods from Random Matrix Theory and Spectral Graph Theory to garner ideas on the dynamics of large ecological systems.
Building food webs from scratch
What are the main drivers responsible for the shape of ecological networks? We investigate this question through the use of simple models for building food webs (or other ecological networks) whose shape resembles that of empirical networks. To do so, we rely heavily on statistics, with an emphasis on the problem of model selection.
Response to extinctions
Every day, dozens of species go extinct. Are these extinctions going to trigger "extinction cascades" in which the loss of a primary species results in an avalanche of "secondary" extinctions? We use mathematical and statisitcal models to address this question.
