I am primarily interested in intraspecific variation and its impacts on community and ecosystem dynamics, as well as spatiotemporal patterns of ecological variation. My work aims to utilize quantitative and statistical tools to better understand how variation within a species affects its interactions with other species and the environment across landscapes and through time. I love designing and conducting experiments, collecting and analyzing data, modelling complex ecological systems, and piecing together insights about those systems.
My previous work has largely focused on plant-insect interactions: how intraspecific variation in leaf economics traits influence a plant’s ability to defend against herbivory; how genetic variation and resulting phenotypic variation within a plant species can influence the arthropod communities that utilize it; and how invasive herbivores can negatively and indirectly affect native herbivores by inducing elevated defenses in their shared host plants.
I now endeavor, with the Orrock lab, to predict the risk of Borrelia burgdorferi (a causative agent for Lyme disease) infection among Peromyscus mice as a function of climate and habitat conditions, mouse behavioral and phenotypic variation, and interaction with Ixodes ticks (B. burgdorferi vectors). This project will utilize data including small mammal abundance and activity timing, tick abundance and B. burgdorferi incidence, weather, and other environmental information, all collected across the United States by an NSF-supported collaboration with the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON).
GitHub: https://github.com/morrowcj