Matteo Petit Bon

Principal Investigator

For more details, see the dedicated About me page.

Emily Santos (2024-present) is a PhD student with Dr. Karen Beard in the Community and Global Change Ecology Lab at Utah State University (USU) studying how climate-driven shifts in flooding, warming, and herbivory shape plant traits and ecosystem functioning. As part of an NSF-funded project in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, she examines how these multiple stressors influence above- and belowground traits and their coordination in wetland species. For her dissertation, Emily also works with Dr. Karin Kettenring in the Wetland Ecology and Restoration Lab at USU on an EPA-funded Utah Lake restoration project. This work focuses on how the seed bank responds to hydrologic extremes, its capacity to support recovery, and how diversity seeding strategies can enhance restoration outcomes. Her broader interests span functional trait ecology, climate adaptation, and wetland resilience, and her work aims to inform applied management and restoration of climate-vulnerable ecosystems.

Tyler Williams (2023-present) is a master’s student with Dr. Karen Beard in the Community and Global Change Ecology Lab at Utah State University (USU). He is part of an NSF-funded project in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, characterizing how climate-driven shifts in warming, flooding, and herbivory alter plant communities and greenhouse gas fluxes in coastal high-latitude wetlands. Originally born and raised in Nebraska, he later pursued a B.Sc. from South Dakota State University in Ecology and Environmental Science with an emphasis in botany. After completing his master’s, he plans to pursue a PhD in the realm of plant ecology. In his free time, he enjoys any outdoor activity (hiking, camping, rock climbing, learning new plants, etc.), reading, spending time and going out with friends, and playing the violin in the Cache Symphony Orchestra.