RESEARCH
RESEARCH
Based on our own and previously assembled collections, we are describing new species, compiling species-level revisions, and exploring phylogenetic relationships in a variety of beetle groups, including Histeridae, Staphylinidae, Chrysomelidae, Curculionidae, and others.
By examining intraspecific relationships in selected arthropod species, we are trying to understand the effects of historical and contemporary environmental factors in diversification patterns and endemicity in the southeastern United States. We have especially looked at the degree of connectedness among old- and second-growth forest patches in the southern Appalachians.
Through fieldwork, literature compilation, and work in research collections, we are compiling an encyclopedia of arthropod biodiversity in the southeastern United States. Field surveys have targeted litter arthropods in old-growth patches in the southern Appalachians, especially at higher elevations. We have also done significant work at lower elevations on the Coastal Plain, including a nearly year-long survey at Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge (from which we've documented 1027 beetle species so far).
Litter Arthropods of High Appalachia
The highest peaks of southern Appalachia are home to an endemic-rich fauna, including many litter- and soil-dwelling arthropod species that await discovery and description. This poorly-documented biodiversity, isolated in ancient spruce-fir forests and adapted to cooler montane habitats faces multiple threats, including global warming trends and ensuing competition from native and invasive species moving upward into these habitats.
We've recently been funded (along with co-PI Paul Marek at Virginia Tech University) to dive deeply into this rich fauna. Read more about this exciting project here and here.