Desiree’s research focuses on biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration in the face of global change. She primarily studies plants, insects, and birds with a particular focus on multi-trophic interactions, habitat relationships of wildlife with specialized life histories, and mechanistic approaches to applied ecology.
Much of Desiree’s work takes place in forests of all types, from naturally regenerating and preserved forests to novel ecosystems significantly altered by people, such as urban street trees, residential yards, and agroforestry. Her interdisciplinary work uses field, lab, and modeling-based approaches to answer questions that span across scales and taxa.
As a conservation biologist at VCE, Desiree’s ultimate goal is to help land managers and communities implement effective and efficient action to support biodiversity and people in a rapidly changing world. She is also strongly committed to public outreach and communication, collaborations between scientists and artists, and improving diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in ecology and conservation.
Desiree joined Vermont Center for Ecostudies in 2022. Before joining VCE, she was a David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a postdoctoral fellow at City University of New York. She completed her Ph.D. in Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in 2018, an MS in Natural Resources from the Ohio State University in 2012, and a BS in Environmental Biology from SUNY: ESF in 2006.
Publications
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Outreach
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