Matt is an Ecologist at the Columbia Environmental Research Center.
My work examines environmental factors affecting plant distribution in natural systems and how plants and plant communities respond to management and environmental stressors. I have helped develop and have applied ecological classification systems to: understand ecosystem composition and function, map vegetation communities, understand differential response of vegetation communities to management actions, and model plant species and community occurrences. This research is intended to provide decision-support tools that encourage efficient management by identifying where on the landscape proposed management activities will be most effective.
Other work has focused on the effects of environmental contaminants on growth and survival of individual species and on the floristic quality in forested and grassland ecosystems. Recent research has focused on assessing the relative merits of different methods for monitoring the development of environmental restorations, including the use of tiered sampling techniques and new and emergent technologies such as Unoccupied Aerial Systems (more commonly called “drones”).
My USGS career has allowed me to explore and contribute to the conservation of some of America’s beautiful places: from the rolling Ozark hills in my home state of Missouri, to Palmyra Atoll in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
Science and Products
High Resolution Vegetation Mapping at Palmyra Atoll Using Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS)-Acquired Imagery
UAS and Other Remote Sensing and Imagery Analysis For Disaster Response, Remediation, and Restoration and Monitoring Ecological Restoration
Restoration Planning, Implementation, and Monitoring: Invasive Species Eradication and Control Program at the Little Saint Francis River Chat Pile
Fire and Climate Suitability for Woody Vegetation Communities in the South Central United States
Assessing hydrologic function, plant stress, and success of bottomland restoration using UAS
Science and Products
- Science
High Resolution Vegetation Mapping at Palmyra Atoll Using Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS)-Acquired Imagery
Lying 1000 miles south of Hawaii, Palmyra Atoll is a marine wilderness co-managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy. Beach forests of Pisonia grandis and other vegetation communities provide habitat for thousands of nesting terns, boobies, and other birds. Introduced coconut (Cocos nucifera) groves and use of Palmyra as a World War II airfield left a legacy of invasive...UAS and Other Remote Sensing and Imagery Analysis For Disaster Response, Remediation, and Restoration and Monitoring Ecological Restoration
CERC scientists are utilizing remote sensing technologies to facilitate rapid collection of ephemeral field data following disasters, to assess injuries to natural resources and potential threats to human health, and to inform and monitor ecological restoration.Restoration Planning, Implementation, and Monitoring: Invasive Species Eradication and Control Program at the Little Saint Francis River Chat Pile
Among sites undergoing restoration activities as part of the Southeast Missouri Mining District (SEMO) Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration settlement, the Little St. Francis River Chat Pile (LSFR) will be one the first in Madison County at which primary ecological restoration will be implemented. CERC scientists are collaborating with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the...Fire and Climate Suitability for Woody Vegetation Communities in the South Central United States
Climate and fire are global drivers of plant species distributions in the south central United States. Long-term management of vegetation communities can benefit from information on projected spatial changes in climate and fire frequencies.Assessing hydrologic function, plant stress, and success of bottomland restoration using UAS
Midwest bottomland sites are being restored to hardwood forests via various methods. Assessment of success following restoration to forested conditions requires rapid, short-term assessment tools that can indicate long-term trajectory based on short-term community development. - Data
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- Publications