The Road to Extinction

My dissertation research focused on population ecology, spanning from theoretical to applied. I am interested in the general path populations take on the road to extinction. Theoreticians have developed models that capture what we think that road looks like. My work pushes these ideas forward by trying to re-create this theoretical road in a highly controlled laboratory setting. This work acts as a proof of concept before exploring these ideas in (an often messy) natural setting. Understanding how populations go extinct can help us make better conservation decisions. On the flip side, this information can also be useful in controlling disease outbreaks and invasive species.

I have developed 2 different microbial systems to explore the plausibility of noise-induced transitions within biological systems.

More details coming soon, but until then flip through my defense slide deck.

My first taste of blending theory and microbial mesocosm experiments
Kaul, R.B., A.M. Kramer, F.C. Dobbs, & J.M. Drake. 2016. Experimental demonstration of Allee effects in microbial populations. Biology Letters 12:20160070. [online] [data & code]