[1] As a graduate student at Cornell, Chazdon completed her dissertation research at La Selva where she focused on understanding how understory palm trees could grow in the deep shade.
[6] While serving in these roles, Chazdon began long-term studies on tropical forest regeneration in northeastern Costa Rica and led a 10-year multi-country research project involving long-term ecological studies on tropical forest regeneration in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Brazil.
[6][10] In May 2013, Chazdon was invited to partake in a discussion of tropical forest ecology and climate change with the Royal Society in London.
[11] Following this, she published her book Second growth: The promise of tropical forest regeneration in an age of deforestation through the University of Chicago Press which was formed as a guide to restoration.
[12] Despite leaving the institution, Chazdon remained a professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.