BioSciences
Research Advisor: Tom Miller

Alumna Emily Schultz ’18 recently graduated with a Ph.D. in the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology program within the Department of BioSciences. As a graduate student in Dr. Tom Miller's lab, Emily conducted research on lifeforms she found most fascinating: species that can survive in extreme climates (high-elevation pine) and weeds (invasive thistle).

"Although this might be odd for someone who has done research on invasive species, I have a particular admiration for weeds. They so often manage to persist, despite our best efforts to get rid of them."

Using weeds and pines, Emily investigated why we find biological species where we do. Breaking down this fundamental question, Emily asks 3 specific questions: 1) Can native insects limit the population of an invasive thistle? 2) How might the range of whitebark pines shift in the face of climate change? 3) Does variation in environmental conditions predict regional dynamics of whitebark pines?

To address these questions, Emily uses a combination of field studies and mathematical modeling. "In the field, I collected data on the survival, growth, and reproductive rates of the species. I then used these data to parameterize models, incorporating environmental data, to estimate how we expect the population sizes to change over time."

The type of work that field study and modeling involve matches Emily's love for the outdoors and puzzle-solving. Through developing her own research, Emily got to combine these elements. "For my dissertation, I spent my summers backpacking in the mountains, collecting data on whitebark pine. Then I got to bring in the math and puzzle-solving when I built the models and the computer programs to run them."

In addition to alpine backpacking, Emily's ecology research has brought her to Yellow Stone National Park, Costa Rica, South Africa, and the Mariana Islands. Now, building demographic models to help understand the distribution of pinyon pine, Emily works as a postdoctoral researcher for Dr. Margaret Evans at the Laboratory for Tree Ring Research at the University of Arizona.

Listen to a 5-minute talk to learn more about Emily's Ph.D. research here: https://youtu.be/07wt7ipr-Ks