Ian McCullough

Ph.D. student

About: 

I am studying the distribution of microenvironments in rugged landscapes and the resulting implications for biodiversity and conservation planning. Since I arrived at Bren in fall 2012, I have been actively involved in the NSF macrosystems project "Do microenvironments govern macroecology?" (http://biogeog.ucsb.edu/research/collaborative-research-do-microenvironments-govern-macroecology). I am also using tree ring analyses to examine the recent climate-growth relationship in stressed populations of ponderosa pine at Tejon Ranch, near the southern and lower edge of the species' range.
 
Before coming to Bren, I studied water quality of Maine lakes for approximately 4 years (2008-2012). I wrote my undergraduate thesis (Colby College) on the effects of land use and residential development on phosphorus concentrations in the Belgrade Lakes. My master's thesis (University of Maine) was on the use of Landsat and MODIS satellite imagery to estimate water clarity (Secchi depth) across the entire state. This project was mostly funded by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection out of its need to collect more data on the thousands of lakes in Maine in a cost-effective manner.