Matthias enjoys bringing people together in the age-old process of sharing our collective knowledge.
With over 10 years of field experience, Matthias has studied the soundscapes of Hawai’i, monitored bird migration on the Colorado plateau in Oregon, and surveyed wildfire recovery in the Great Plains.
Returning home to Vermont, Matthias began working with the Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative with a focus on bringing it all together, looking at natural systems as a whole. A recent graduate from UVM Field Naturalist Program, Matthias is interested in work that makes data meaningful.
Highlighted work
Southwestern Kansas
While leading field crews monitoring nest success of Lesser Prairie-chickens, I also developed and conducted a survey to see if the recent wildlife had influenced colonization of invasive saltcedar. Surveys showed most trees were top-killed but resprouted vigorously from their roots. A year and a half after the fire, these sprouts were already over 2 meters tall! As prairie-chicken are sensitive to tall features on the landscape (being the prey of many birds of prey that perch on these features), these findings suggest that wildlife is insufficient in keeping tall features from the landscape.
I published my research in Priarie Naturalist (2022).
Southwestern Kansas
While leading field crews monitoring nest success of Lesser Prairie-chickens, I also developed and conducted a survey to see if the recent wildlife had influenced colonization of invasive saltcedar. Surveys showed most trees were top-killed but resprouted vigorously from their roots. A year and a half after the fire, these sprouts were already over 2 meters tall! As prairie-chicken are sensitive to tall features on the landscape (being the prey of many birds of prey that perch on these features), these findings suggest that wildlife is insufficient in keeping tall features from the landscape.
I published my research in Priarie Naturalist (2022).
Southwestern Kansas
While leading field crews monitoring nest success of Lesser Prairie-chickens, I also developed and conducted a survey to see if the recent wildlife had influenced colonization of invasive saltcedar. Surveys showed most trees were top-killed but resprouted vigorously from their roots. A year and a half after the fire, these sprouts were already over 2 meters tall! As prairie-chicken are sensitive to tall features on the landscape (being the prey of many birds of prey that perch on these features), these findings suggest that wildlife is insufficient in keeping tall features from the landscape.
I published my research in Priarie Naturalist (2022).