B. Alexander Simmons

I am a conservation biologist and postdoctoral research fellow at Boston University's Global Development Policy Center. My research interests are transdisciplinary, with a particular focus on the overarching effects of anthropogenic actions on ecological interactions and ecosystem function. Some of my previous projects have centered around wildlife and rangeland management, animal behaviour, ecohydrology, and water quality, and my field experience spans across seven countries throughout North America, Europe, and Africa. My recent projects illuminate the complex factors driving deforestation at the individual level and their subsequent effects on biodiversity and ecosystem function. Using a range of interdisciplinary approaches amalgamating the biophysical, economic, demographic, and cultural dimensions of deforestation, I am interested in determining the impacts of conservation policy, and how deforestation trends may be influenced by economic indicators, psychosocial behaviours, and political regime changes.