David Shen

I am a postgraduate associate from the UK interested in understanding and conserving ecosystem services around the world. To do this, I aim to use new statistical methods to improve the biological plausibility of species distribution models to include biotic interactions. This would allow us to make better predictions of species distributions, and therefore better predict how their associated ecosystem services may change.

Prior to joining Yale, I completed my undergraduate degree at University College London, graduating in 2021 with a first-class MSci in Biodiversity and Conservation. I completed my final year project under the supervision of Prof. Richard Pearson, incorporating biotic interactions into species distribution models to better model the distribution of an edible caterpillar in southern Africa. This was used to see how climate change could impact the future availability of the caterpillar as a food source.

Outside the lab, I enjoy hiking, fishing, or otherwise being in the great British and American outdoors. I also like doing taekwondo, photography and improving my cooking/baking skills