Biography

My main area of research is terrestrial ecosystem modeling. Within this area my research topics of interest include forest disturbance and recovery processes, dynamic vegetation processes, model sensitivity and uncertainty, and understanding tropical and boreal forest response to changing climates. Current projects include improving global simulations of the demographic model FATES (Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator) which is coupled to the Earth System Model E3SM, application of a gap model for a tropical forest to evaluate forest response to elevated disturbance regimes, modeling gradients in tropical tree mortality across the Amazon Basin. Previous projects have included demographic modeling tasks and improving modeling predictability of tropical forest mortality rates for the NGEE-Tropics Project, improving modeling capacity to accurately represent biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) emissions from tropical ecosystems as part of the GoAmazon Project, and working with a multi-lab team to create a first generation earth system model with a fully integrated human systems component, representing human activities affecting land use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Jennifer Holm received a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Emory University, M.S. in interdisciplinary ecology, with a focus on Tropical Conservation Development and forest resources and conservation, from University of Florida, and a Ph. D. in environmental sciences from University of Virginia. Prior to joining the lab, Jennifer was a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and has been a field research technician at the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico.