Dr. Christine Rollinson
Forest Ecologist,
The Morton Arboretum
Christy is the forest ecologist at The Morton Arboretum and conducts research on forest dynamics and change through time. Christy’s work involves a variety of approaches including tree rings, citizen science, long-term monitoring, and ecological modeling.
Staff and Collaborators
Lucien Fitzpatrick
Research Assistant
The Morton Arboretum
Lucien joined the forest ecology group in fall 2019 as a research assistant after having interned at the Arboretum in January 2018. Lucien does a bit of everything in the lab ranging from dendrochronology to field equipment maintenance to statistical modeling.
Brendon Reidy
Phenology Research Coordinator,
The Morton Arboretum
Brendon joined the lab in spring 2018 to improve communication and coordination of volunteers for our phenology monitoring program. As a naturalist and outreach specialist, Brendon has a broad and varied skillset that comes in handy for helping develop educational and volunteer engagement programming on the fly.
Students
Shiven Shah,
Hinsdale Central 2022
Shiven joined the Forest Ecology team in spring 2020. Originally planning to volunteer in the lab with different tasks, Shiven shifted to learning about code and data visualization when COVID19 prevented on-site work. See Shiven’s interactive visualizations of our phenology data as a map or a list.
Past Lab Members
Staff
Bethany Zumwalde, Research Assistant, 2017-2019
Drew Duckett, Research Assistant, 2017
Undergraduates
Andrew Ernat (Iowa State), NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates Fellow, 2020. Project: Exploring remotely sensed data as an indicator of phenological sensitivity in oaks. (analysis project)
Jamilys Rivera Rodriguez (U. Puerto Rico - Humacao), NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates Fellow, 2019; Project: Comparison of growth and recovery in response to drought stress across wood types and mycorrhizal associations. (dendrochronology project)
Perry Giambuzzi (U. of the Sciences), NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates Fellow, 2019; Project: Comparison of growth sensitivity to daily temperature and precipitation among trees varying in xylem anatomy and mycorrhizal association. (dendrochronology project)
Cori Butkiewicz (UMD), Undergraduate Research Fellow, 2018; Project: Forests on the edge: climate, soil, and fire on the prairie-forest boundary. (modeling project)
Sierra Lopezalles (CalTech), Undergraduate Research Fellow, 2017; Project: Effects of prescribed burn regimes on the growth of mature trees in a midwest oak forest. (dendrochronology project)
High School Students
Jessica Oros, Illinois Math and Science Academy , Student Inquiry & Research Program, 2017-2019; (undergrad at University of Chicago, fall 2019); Project: Effects of climate on the growth and anatomical tradeoffs of red and white oak.
Lucy Liu, Illinois Math and Science Academy, Student Inquiry & Research Program, 2017-2018; (undergrad at Harvard University, fall 2018); Project: Comparison of native and invasive functional type phenology (field-based project)
Parth Dhyani, Illinois Math and Science Academy, Student Inquiry & Research Program, 2017-2018 (undergrad at University of Michigan, fall 2018); Project: Comparison of native and invasive functional type phenology (field-based project)