His research addresses how demographic processes, including seed dispersal and neighborhood competition, generate spatial patterns in plant populations, how landscape features, such as human land use, influence plant demography, and finally, how plant communities alter landscapes. A major research objective is to apply answers to these questions to biodiversity conservation, including tropical forest conservation, invasive species management and ecological restoration. Dr. Caughlin uses a variety of data types including; satellite and airborne remote sensing data, long-term inventory plots, common garden experiments, and interactive game-based simulations.