I'm a research scientist with the Earth Lab and CIRES at the University of Colorado in Boulder working with Dr. Jennifer Balch. I earned my PhD at the University of California, Davis in the Graduate Group in Ecology where I was advised by Dr. Andrew Latimer and Dr. Malcolm North. My MSc advisor at Colorado State University was Dr. Ruth Hufbauer.
My research focuses on how demographic processes and disturbances operate across scales to produce emergent patterns of plant biogeography. More broadly, I am interested in the dynamic of these scale-dependent phenomena within the socioecological context of land management and a changing climate. I use field-based studies, cutting edge remote sensing, data harmonization, geostatistical analyses, and a firm grounding in ecological theory to advance innovative macroecology research in the mountainous western U.S.
These are some projects I'm currently working on:
My research focuses on how demographic processes and disturbances operate across scales to produce emergent patterns of plant biogeography. More broadly, I am interested in the dynamic of these scale-dependent phenomena within the socioecological context of land management and a changing climate. I use field-based studies, cutting edge remote sensing, data harmonization, geostatistical analyses, and a firm grounding in ecological theory to advance innovative macroecology research in the mountainous western U.S.
These are some projects I'm currently working on:
- Investigating the fine-scale drivers of California megafires.
- Integrating drone-derived data with the National Ecological Observatory Network forest structure data and the Aerial Observation Platform
- Working with Cal-Wood Education Center to integrate drone technology into their inquiry-based learning curriculum with a focus on the Cal-Wood fire
- Characterizing the nighttime fire regime at a global scale
- Using Google Earth Engine to assess wildfire severity and the precariousness of continental US forest systems to state change
- Teaching scientific computing skills to researchers
- GLORIA alpine plant monitoring to track climate change effects on peaks within the Great Basin region
You can find some of my previous research and resource management activities here.
Contact:
Michael Koontz
Earth Lab/CIRES
SEEC Building, Room 348
University of Colorado-Boulder
Boulder, CO 80303
mikoontz at gmail dot com
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8276-210X
GitHub: mikoontz
Twitter: @_mikoontz
Michael Koontz
Earth Lab/CIRES
SEEC Building, Room 348
University of Colorado-Boulder
Boulder, CO 80303
mikoontz at gmail dot com
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8276-210X
GitHub: mikoontz
Twitter: @_mikoontz
Last updated: 2021-08-24
