Biography

Shalanda received her B.S. in Biology from Hampton University in Hampton, VA. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2023. There, she examined species responses, interactions, and resilience to short-term disturbances in a fringing coral reef ecosystem in Moorea, French Polynesia. She is now a Schmidt Environmental Solutions Postdoctoral Fellow. 

Research Area

Shalanda’s research focuses on how press and pulse disturbances affect ecological interactions, resilience, and trait dynamics across different levels of organization (e.g., species to community). Shalanda is also interested in how anthropogenic factors and climate change affect environmental drivers (e.g., nutrients and sediment) in coral reef ecosystems. She uses a combination of lab and field experiments to address the aims in her research.