Latimer studies responses of California’s plant communities to climate change and disturbance. His work currently focuses on Sierra Nevada forest tree responses to warming, drought, and fire, and on projecting future responses of grassland wildflower populations. As a plane ecologist, he aims to understand the forces that affect population growth and decline, which parts of the plants’ life cycle are especially sensitive to environmental changes, and how interactions among species (e.g. between exotic grasses and native forbs, shrubs and trees) influence their responses.  

In addition to pursuing research at several UC Natural Reserves, he currently is faculty director of the educational outreach program Kids into Discovering Science which brings 5th-grade classes to the McLaughlin Reserve.