Research Interests

My research focuses on population ecology, especially of plants and insects, and plant-animal interactions. Specifically, I am interested in how environmental changes translate to changes in population dynamics: For example, is there a simple, linear matching of changes in resources to abundance of consumers, or do interactions among individuals and species moderate these responses? Much of my research also involves developing novel quantitative approaches to predict long-term dynamics from small scale observations and experiments. Current research focuses largely on insect population viability in changing environments, with some continuing work on plant population dynamics and mast-seeding. Past projects include syntheses of structured population dynamics, application of ecological theory to restoration, and some of the best documented examples of cyclical dynamics in plants and spatial metapopulation dynamics in animals. I was also one of the first ecologists to use generalized linear mixed models to parameterize stochastic population models.

Graduate Program Affiliations

• Population Biology Graduate Group