Open Traits NetworkMember: Brian S Maitner
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Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA |
My research interests are broadly centered on biodiversity, including how it emerges and is maintained, as well as how best to conserve it. This work involves the development of bigger and better datasets and new computational tools to tackle both long-standing ecological questions as well as pressing conservation issues. I use a variety of approaches across spatial and taxonomic scales ranging from small (e.g. a few species in a .25 m x .25 m plot) to very large (whole phyla across the globe). At smaller scales, I leverage functional, phylogenetic, and taxonomic tools to understand how communities assemble and are maintained by both environmental and biotic factors. At larger scales I ask how and why biodiversity is distributed across the globe using biogeographic and macroecological tools coupled with Big Data. Increasingly, my work has involved collaborations with conservation organizations with the goal of providing information to guide decision making and inform policy.