I am an organismal ecologist with interests in both the ecosystem implications of physiological processes and the evolutionary underpinnings of these processes. My research centers around fundamental questions of resource acquisition and allocation in plants and touches upon such topics as herbivory and tri-trophic interactions, atmospheric chemistry and air pollution, community and ecosystem impacts of biological invasions, and organismal controls over element cycling.
The central aim of my research is to elucidate the processes driving fluctuations in population abundance across time and space. I address theory that is relevant to conservation of native and beneficial insects as well as management of agricultural and forest pests. My approach blends field experiments, analysis of spatial data, and theoretical modeling.
My research group focuses on atmospheric dynamics and their role in variability and long-term change in the climate system. In our research, we explore key questions about the dynamics of the climate system through statistical analyses of intraseasonal, interannual, and decadal variability in observational data sets and climate model output.
Research
My current research efforts are in the arctic tundra of North America and Russia, and the temperate forests of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic. In the Arctic, we are examining the recent dynamics of arctic tundra vegetation in response to changing climate and disturbances, and the effects that these vegetation changes have on other arctic ecosystem properties. In the U.S. Mid-Atlantic we are examining carbon cycling along successional gradients from old-field to old-growth, as well as carbon-water interactions in topographically complex watersheds.
My research spans oceanography, climate and biogeochemistry, with an emphasis on numerical models, remote sensing, and data analysis. I am interested in how the global carbon cycle and ocean ecology respond to natural and human-driven climate change signals such as ocean warming, sea-ice loss, and ocean acidification due to the invasion of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning.
Landscape heterogeneities can have pronounced effects on atmospheric boundary layer processes. Examples include a modification of the boundary layer growth and the generation of mesoscale circulations. My research focuses primarily on the investigation of these processes in hilly and mountainous terrain using a combination of field studies, data analysis, and numerical modeling techniques. I seek to apply my expertise to problems in a multi-disciplinary context such as found at the interface with ecology, atmospheric chemistry, and hydrology.
The climate at any one location is determined by the temporal progression of synoptic-scale weather events. My research focuses on the temporal and spatial variability of these synoptic-scale systems and their impact upon various environmental parameters, such as air-quality and human health. Current research involves examining how weather and climate influence severe cases of respiratory distress, which can be related to both pollutants and aeroallergens as well as short-term changes in weather conditions.
I am a marine ecologist with primary interests in population and community ecology. Although projects in our research group are diverse, we are collectively interested in understanding patterns of biodiversity in coastal marine ecosystems such as kelp forests, seagrass meadows, and oyster reefs. Our studies combine long-term observations, experiments, and models to explain the abundance and distribution of species across a broad range of spatial scales.
I am interested in a diversity of topics in population and ecological genetics within the broad context evolutionary ecology. My research is question-driven and has included both animals and plants. Over the past several years my research has focused on the effects of inbreeding on the interactions between plants and their antagonists (herbivores and pathogens) and their mutualists (pollinators). In addressing these problems I have conducted experiments in the field as well as the greenhouse, and my approach has relied extensively on the techniques of quantitative genetics.
