Research
Scroll down to read more about the various research projects I have worked on. If you would like to learn more about any of my research, check out the publications tab or contact me with any questions.
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Antares Project
Billion Ton 2016 Project
Before beginning graduate school, I worked as a post-bachelor research associate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for two years. During that time I contributed to two chapters of the Billion Ton 2016 Volume 2 on sustainability. The first chapter was concerned with water quality in the Arkansas-White-Red (AWR) river basin. By varying management practices associated with bioenergy crops, such as switchgrass, miscanthus, and poplar, we were able to examine the resultant water quality in sub basins in the AWR. We demonstrated a net decrease in median loadings for nutrients and sediment in the AWR, with increases in some subbasins and decreases in others. Decreases tended to occur in areas converted to switchgrass.
The second chapter investigated how bioenergy crop allocation on the landscape effects biodiversity. We developed a species distribution model, BioEST, that also takes into account bioenergy crops and the management practices associated with such crops. From there, we evaluated 42 avian species (forest, grassland, and generalists) and how they would fare under increased bioenergy production across the contiguous United States. Decreases were projected in 0.13% of grid cells for grassland species, 1.4% for forest specialists, and 0.36% for generalists. Increases were projected in 1% of grid cells for grassland species, 0.07% for specialists, and 1.13% for generalists. Among grassland birds, projections showed the potential for increases in range for ring-necked pheasant and field sparrow, and decreases (or no change) for others. |