My research investigates ecological and evolutionary influences on variation in rainforest communities across the tropics. The overarching goal of my research is to understand broad-scale patterns in the diversity and dynamics of tropical rainforests. Understanding how the environment constrains the distribution of tree species and influences growth and mortality rates is fundamental to predicting how global change will affect tropical rainforests. My research focuses on key questions like: How does building a global forest observation system help us to understand controls on the distribution, diversity and dynamics of forests worldwide? Forest vary in tree diversity over two orders of magnitude across the world. What drives the dynamics of these forests on a global scale? What is the difference between ‘natural’ and human-induced causes of forest change?

To meet this challenge, along with a global team of research colleagues, collaborators, and partners, I lead the Smithsonian Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO), a global network of 66 large-scale forest research sites in 27 countries. We use long-term intensive observations of forests across the world to understand the origin and maintenance of forest diversity, and how forest biodiversity and function can best be conserved and managed. This brings together key elements needed to address these challenges at a global scale (1) establishment of a permanent site-based global forest observation system, (2) an integrated, interdisciplinary research team of innovative and creative scholars from a diversity of fields related to forest science, (3) partnerships with other institutions and agencies also concerned with the future of the world’s forests, and (4) an international program of forest science capacity building.

As the largest of its kind in the world, ForestGEO complements the efforts of the modeling community and the space-borne observational community, and provides an extraordinary opportunity to revolutionize our understanding of one of Earth’s most biologically complex and important systems.