Michael Burnett

I study the effects of vegetation changes on ecosystem processes and resource management. Currently, my efforts are focused on tropical Pacific islands where colonial-era coconut plantations have displaced native forest communities. In my time at UCSB and previously at The Nature Conservancy in Hawaii, I led a project mapping coconut plantations on over 200 Pacific atolls, revealing the widespread loss of these unique native forests. I am now studying the water consumption patterns of trees on Tetiaroa, an atoll in French Polynesia, to better understand the threats that plantations pose to scarce groundwater resources on atolls. Additional projects include a study of land crab populations in coconut plantations on Palmyra Atoll and hydraulic studies of native and invasive Californian vegetation at Sedgwick Ranch and the Santa Clara River.