Rob Pringle, Professor
I have always been fascinated by the ways in which species interactions “cascade” through food webs and other ecological networks, often with surprising outcomes. My research is motivated by curiosity, and the questions are united by a single goal: to understand how wild ecosystems work by studying their modular components and emergent properties. By understanding how things work, we can appreciate them more fully and understand better how to fix them when they break.
Alex Moore, Postdoc
I am interested in combining community and ecosystem ecology along with social science methods to better understand how ecological dynamics and cultural values and uses inform coastal wetland functioning and restoration. In the Pringle lab, I will expand the research methods to explicitly connect the community ecology and ecosystem ecology scales, while working with scholars in the Anthropology department to add depth to the sociocultural research methods.
Maia Raymundo, Postdoc
My research interests lie at the intersection of conservation and the application of fundamental ecological theory to improve conservation and restoration outcomes.The thrust of my research that I will be undertaking in the Pringle Lab will focus on combining molecular techniques and community ecology to inform restoration strategies for the Marianas fruit bat (Pteropus mariannus) and its habitats on the island of Guam.
Lotanna Micah Nneji, Postdoc
I am interested in understanding the diversity, ecology, population genetics and distribution patterns of animals such as invertebrates (butterflies and moths), freshwater fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. In the Pringle lab, I will conduct the first DNA metabarcoding analyses of the diet composition and niche relationships of herbivorous birds.
Erin Phillips, Graduate Student
I am interested in how predator-prey and predator-predator interactions act to shape ecosystem structure, function and biodiversity, and in the implications of this for conservation action and policy. I am studying the impact of apex carnivore reintroduction on natural populations, and particularly on understudied mesocarnivores in Gorongosa National Park.
Finote Gijsman, Graduate Student
I am broadly interested in plant-insect interactions and the roles they play in maintaining ecosystem biodiversity. In the Pringle Lab, I am interested in investigating the role that chemistry plays in mediating plant-insect food webs and interactions.
Joel Abraham, Graduate Student
Disturbances are of paramount importance in structuring ecological communities. I study how these disturbances — particularly herbivory, fire, and flooding — interact with one another and the implications this has for ecosystem structure and function. I use Gorongosa National Park as a model system in which to investigate disturbance interactions.
Harrison Watson, Graduate Student
The carbon sink/source potential of tropical savanna ecosystems are largely unclear, despite their importance to global carbon cycling and sequestration. I’m interested in how disturbance from fire and herbivory influence carbon sequestration in these systems. My research combines theoretical modeling techniques with field work in Kenya and South Africa to understand the role of disturbance in clarifying the carbon storage potential of tropical savannas.
Ciara Nutter, Lab Manager
I am interested in how the structure of ecological interaction networks affects ecosystem functioning and stability. More specifically, how diets and food webs vary across scales, how they are altered in response to anthropogenic change, and what the ecosystem-level consequences of these alterations are.
Sam Kurukura, Research Technician
I am a field-based biodiversity and ecological-research technician in Laikipia, Kenya. I have worked with the Pringle Lab since 2005 and help to oversee the UHURU Large-Herbivore Exclosure Experiment at the Mpala Research Centre. I have a particular interest in botany, and in understanding how large mammalian herbivores shape savanna ecosystems.
John Ekeno, Research Technician
I work with the Pringle and Tarnita Labs at the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya. There, I help to oversee several large-scale and small-scale field experiments focusing on how termites and large mammalian herbivores affect plant and animal communities.