Kimberly Franklin

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
kimberlf@email.arizona.edu
Mailing address: P.O. Box 210088, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0088

• Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
• Research Interests
• Publications

Understanding spatial variation in species diversity is a fundamental goal of ecology and essential to effective management of biodiversity. Myriad factors influence the number of species within a local community or a geographic region, but energy has emerged as a primary determinant of species diversity across a wide variety taxa and spatial scales. Many mechanisms have been posited to explain the energy-diversity relationship, but all remain controversial, largely due to the large amount of variation that has been observed in the form of the relationship. Although insects comprise the majority of species diversity on the planet, insect taxa rarely feature in the debate on energy-diversity relationships mainly due to a lack of suitable data. My research interests include documenting broad scale patterns of insect diversity, using these data to ask questions about the mechanisms behind energy-diversity relationships, and applying this knowledge to the conservation of biodiversity.