Hi! I'm Lea.

I am an ecologist interested in questions about animal behavior, urban ecology, and evolution. I am fascinated by how behavior mediates responses to environmental change and in turn how environmental change impacts behavior. My research program examines the behavioral, evolutionary, and genetic mechanisms underlying variation in response to human dominated environments. I am also interested in connecting animal behavior to larger-scale questions in ecology. For example, how do animal movement patterns influence nutrient cycling, or how do urban systems differ from natural ones?

Topics I could talk about all day: evolutionary traps, Bayesian inference, microplastic pollution, freshwater snails, my dog named Gouda.

I am a classic New Yorker, passionate about good food and public transportation. I am currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Minnesota working with the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area (MSP) Long Term Ecological Research Program. I was previously an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Rice University. Please see my CV for detailed information about my research experience.

If anything on here interests you or if you would just like to say hi, I'd love to hear from you!