ESIIL Postdoctoral Associate

Kai is a community and marine ecologist and earned his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was involved with the NSF Moorea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological Research (MCR LTER) site. He is interested in how new disturbance regimes, brought on by global change, affect the capacity for ecosystems to recover after a disturbance occurs (i.e., ecosystem resilience). In particular, he studies how the dead, remnant structures of foundation species (a type of material legacy; e.g., dead trees, coral skeletons, bivalve shells, etc.) affect ecological processes that drive ecosystem recovery. He combines remote sensing techniques (photogrammetry, structure from motion) with AI-assisted image analysis, as well as time series analysis and mathematical modeling to understand how material legacies of foundation species are being altered under global change, and the impacts this will have on the resilience of contemporary ecosystems. 

Here are a couple of his recent publications: 

Kopecky, K. L., Pavoni, G., Nocerino, E., Brooks, A. J., Corsini, M., Menna, F., ... & Schmitt, R. J. (2023). Quantifying the Loss of Coral from a Bleaching Event Using Underwater Photogrammetry and AI-Assisted Image Segmentation. Remote Sensing, 15(16), 4077. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15164077. 

Kopecky, K. L., Stier, A. C., Schmitt, R. J., Holbrook, S. J., & Moeller, H. V. (2023). Material legacies can degrade resilience: Structure‐retaining disturbances promote regime shifts on coral reefs. Ecology, 104(4), e4006. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4006. 

Project Summary

An emerging focus of ecology is to understand how material legacies – biogenic remnants of dead organisms – affect patterns of demographic processes in living species, which in turn shape patterns of community assembly and properties of resilience. A particularly unresolved aspect is how demography in living foundation species (organisms that create the biological structures of ecosystems, e.g., trees, corals, and oysters) is influenced by the material legacies of dead foundation species. Here, we aim to leverage the NSF Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network to assess demographic responses of foundation species to both gradual and pulse inputs of material legacies across terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Specifically, we will utilize LTER time series to evaluate the magnitude and direction of material legacy effects and identify commonalities and dissimilarities among disparate ecosystem types. Insights from this research will help us achieve a generalized understanding of the impacts material legacies have on populations of foundation species and ensure we are best equipped to manage these legacies as they become more or less prevalent under changing global conditions.

Visit Dr. Kai Kopecky's project repository to learn more: LTER Material Legacies