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I am an ecologist with a specific focus on landscape scale interactions. I work in riparian areas of the world with complex physical and biotic linkages. My research aims to answer applied questions with a basic understanding of physical process, ecological function and their intricate feedbacks.
In addition, because of this large-scale focus and its associated skill set, I have been able to explore other realms of related research, including landscape genetics and ecology applied agricultural landscapes. These three themes are described in more details below; along with the places I currently work and plan to work.
Riparian Ecology
My research focuses on understanding how systems interact and how landscape patterns emerge from processes over a range of scales. I work predominately in riparian areas because they are a tractable system to build upon a mechanistic understanding of the physical and biotic processes that influence system structure. My research builds on local scale studies of the environment and focuses on scaling-up processes to the landscape level. I am interested in basic and applied questions of how ecosystems function.
Landscape genetics
My work in this area involves integrating tools and concepts from landscape ecology into ecological genetics to better understand the patterns of gene flow over a landscape. I have applied GIS-based tools to build more spatially realistic models of measuring the ‘ecological distance’ between populations. In particular, I collaborate with research interested in scaling-up genetic and population processes to inform landscape patterns and conservation.
Ecology applied to agricultral landscapes
Ecoagriculture is an science-based approach that seeks to manage interactions between humans and the environment at a landscape scale to simultaneously meet three goals: (a) conserving a full complement of native biodiversity and ecosystem services (b) providing agricultural products and services on a sustainable basis, and (c) supporting viable livelihoods for local people. Our understanding of these systems and our ability to improve them, replicate them, and scale them up is hindered by the lack of analytical tools for quantifying and adaptively managing complex landscape-scale interactions. I am currently working with Fabrice De Clerck at CATIE (Costa Rica, Nicaragua) looking at the landscape scale spatial arrangements of semi-natural and natural systems to increase resistance to climate change impacts.
Places of Interest
Current: Sacramento River, California; Ain and Drôme River, France; Watersheds over Japan, specifically Hokkaido;
Future: Okavango Delta, Botswana; Terai rivers, Nepal
Publications
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Dixon, M. D., J. C. Stromberg, J. T. Price, H. Galbraith, A. K. Fremier, and E. W. Larsen. 2008. Potential Effects of Climate Change on the Upper San Pedro Riparian Ecosystem: Boon or Bane? (Chapter 3). in J. Stromberg and B. Tellman, editors. Riparian Area Conservation in a Semi-Arid Region: The San Pedro River Example.
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Fremier, A. K., J. I. Seo, and F. Nakamura. In revision. Watershed controls on the export of large wood volume from stream corridors. Gemorphology.
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Fremier, A. K. and T. S. Talley. 2009. Scaling riparian conservation with river hydrology: lessons from blue elderberry along four California rivers. Wetlands 29:150-162.
- Greco, S.E., A.K. Fremier, R.E. Plant, and E.W. Larsen. 2007. A method to track surficial patterns of floodplain chronology on a large meandering river: Analysis of land production rates and riparian vegetation distribution over land age gradients. Landscape and Urban Planning 81:354-373.
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Larsen,E. W., A. K. Fremier, and E. H. Girvetz. 2006. Modeling the effects of variable annual flow on river channel meander migration patterns, Sacramento River, California, USA. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 42:1063-1075.
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Larsen, E. W., A. K. Fremier, and S. E. Greco. 2006. Cumulative effective stream power and bank erosion on the Sacramento River, California, USA. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 42:1077-1097.
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Larsen, E.W., E.H. Girvetz, and A.K. Fremier. 2006. Assessing the effects of alternative setback channel constraint scenarios employing a river meander migration model. Environmental Management 37:880-897.
Larsen, E.W., E.H. Girvetz, and A.K. Fremier. 2007. Landscape level planning in alluvial riparian floodplain ecosystems: using geomorphic modeling to avoid conflicts between human infrastructure and habitat conservation. Landscape and Urban Planning 79:338-346. -
Savage, W.K. A. K. Fremier, and H.B. Shaffer. In revision. Spatial and temporal sampling of genetic variation reveal highly structured salamander populations in a complex Sierra Nevada landscape. Molecular Ecology.
- Smith, M. E., G. W. Douhan, A. K. Fremier, and D. M. Rizzo. 2009. Are true multihost fungi the exception or the rule? Dominant ectomycorrhizal fungi on Pinus sabiniana differ from those on co-occurring Quercus species. New Phytologist.
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Vaghti, M.G., M. Holyoak, A. Williams, T.S. Talley, A.K. Fremier, and S.E. Greco. 2009. Understanding the ecology of blue elderberry to inform landscape restoration in semi-arid river corridors. Environmental Management 43(1) 28-37.
Interests
Running, backcountry skiing, travel, language learning (Nepali and Portuguese)