Kasey Barton

Research interests

My research focuses on plant functional ecology in islands. We investigate plant tolerance to multiple stressors such as herbivory, drought, fire, and salinity, using a trait-based and largely experimental approach. To better understand how trait expression and stress tolerance shift throughout development, we use an ontogenetic framework. Most of our work focuses on native Hawaiian plants with the goal of contributing to a better understanding of island plant diversity and conservation.