Dr. Carissa Brown

Biography

Carissa Brown is a faculty member in the Department of Geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her research focuses on climate change and its impact on the distribution of plant species, particularly trees. She aims to understand how environmental constraints affect species distributions in the context of warming temperatures in northern ecosystems. Her current research program includes testing non-climatic constraints on tree species’ range expansion through field experiments and observational studies. She has collaborated on projects investigating the effects of climate-induced shifts in disturbance regimes, especially concerning sub-arctic black spruce forests and treeline dynamics. Carissa spearheaded the Global Treeline Range Expansion Experiment, a global initiative to test the mechanisms driving treeline shifts, showcasing her commitment to advancing research in exciting ecosystems found in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Research Interests