I'm a postdoc 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.

I'm interested in how spatial patterns of vegetation structure and composition affect the resilience of forests to wildfire and bark beetle disturbance. The goal of my research is to reveal how system-wide feedbacks in disturbance-prone forests can be harnessed to guide effective management action.

I currently live in Boulder, Colorado with my wife, Meagan Oldfather, and our dog, Ouzel.

These are some projects I'm currently working on:
  1. Integrating drone-derived data with the National Ecological Observatory Network forest structure data and the Aerial Observation Platform
  2. Using Google Earth Engine to assess wildfire severity and the precariousness of continental US forest systems to state change
  3. Drone mapping forest structure and spatial patterns of western pine beetle outbreaks in the Sierra Nevada
  4. Teaching scientific computing skills to researchers
  5. GLORIA alpine plant monitoring to track climate change effects on peaks within the Great Basin region
  6. Eco-evolutionary consequences of multiple introductions for colonizing individuals using microcosm experiments
You can find some of my previous research and resource management activities here.
Contact:

Michael Koontz
Earth Lab
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: 2021-01-11