I'm Serina Wittyngham, a postdoctoral researcher at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary. My research asks questions about how environmental changes and human impacts affect ecosystems and shape their resilience over time. I address these big questions by first focusing on something small - the relationship between plants and their consumers. By understanding the mechanisms governing these interactions and how they change with human and environmental influence, I can then address larger landscape scale questions. 

 

My research has three connected themes:

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(1) how do environment-plant-consumer interactions change under varying levels of human influence and climate change?

(2) how do these changing relationships affect ecosystem function and resilience?

(3) how can we use novel ecological methods to evaluate management efforts and improve restoration success?

 

In my spare time, I enjoy gardening, hiking, baking, and exploring local breweries with my partner and our dog, Duke.