Thomas Pearson

Research

I am interested in the link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning due to anthropogenic-led global declines in biodiversity and the imminent threat of climate change. More specifically, I aim to focus my research towards investigating which aspects of biodiversity can best predict provision of the carbon storage service in the Amazon under different disturbances.

I am conducting a literature review of studies connecting ecosystem functioning to biodiversity based on species’ traits. I want to know under what contexts (including study methodology, disturbance and spatial and temporal scales) any emerging relationships change and gauge whether any trait-based measurements of diversity are consistently good at explaining ecosystem functioning generally.

Although yet to be finalised, my research project will hopefully involve an aspect of field-work in the Brazilian Amazon, but probably also have a large focus on computational modelling using pre-collected data.

About me

It goes without saying that anybody interested in conservation is a big fan of the outdoors and I’m no exception. This is especially true when there’s a mountain nearby which I’ll force myself to climb up (the more vertical the better), or cycle down. I also love cooking and making/playing music (although I don’t claim to be very good at either).