Research Overview
Ultimately research in the lab seeks to develop a better understanding of the underlying processes shaping the interactions between organisms. The specific questions addressed in the lab are motivated by a desire to both gain a basic understanding of our natural world and utilize our research to aid decision making in managed systems. Work in the lab focuses on insect-plant interactions, because they are easy to manipulate, are arguably the most pervasive interaction among multicellular organisms in terrestrial ecosystems, the factors affecting these interactions are important to our understanding of ecological communities in both natural and managed systems, and because I like them.
The major research areas we work on are listed below. However, students with a clear realistic plan or specific interests are encouraged to pursue topics of their own interest.
Recent student research projects:
Major areas of research: Invasion biology
Plant individual and population responses to herbivory
Evolution of ecological interactions
Publications: