Research

My research focuses on two integrative areas of biology; community genetics and landscape community ecology.  In particular, I am interested in the extent to which genetic traits in plants may affect larger patterns of community structure in the invertebrates that depend upon these plants for survival.  Through the use of manipulative field experiments, I hope to discover the mechanisms that promote diversity on larger, landscape-level scales to aide in conservation and restoration efforts.

Community Genetics

Community genetics is a burgeoning field of ecology which brings our understanding of the factors that structure communities into more of an evolutionary framework. If conditions that shape the genetic structure of plant populations have ramifications for higher trophic levels (such as the associated invertebrate community), then population genetics takes on a new perspective; it is no longer simply a species issue, but becomes a community-level issue as well.  Plant genetics may therefore provide a tool by which we can discover general rules that govern biodiversity.

Landscape Community Ecology

On a larger, landscape-level scale, I am also examining the ways in which habitat loss alters invertebrate community structure and nutrient cycling for intertidal salt marshes along the Atlantic Coast.  In the intertidal marsh, habitat that is not directly lost due to human development is being fragmented into smaller patches via the effects of global climate change on increasing tidal heights.  Such loss of intertidal marsh habitat is crucial as they provide a buffer and filtration system for adjacent estuaries that are critically important from both an ecological and economic perspective. 

My research in landscape ecology seeks to understand the mechanisms that underlie edge effects in sensitive marsh habitats with general application to diverse systems, where habitat loss and increasing edge effects have become the most important factors leading to species extinctions worldwide.