Research
I study species interactions, and have a particular interest in the role that plant-animal interactions play in the evolution of plant traits and reproductive strategies.
Understanding how interactions between plants and animals shape plant reproductive outcomes and how plants mediate these interactions is central to determining the roles of these partnerships in the function of ecological systems and the evolutionary trajectories of the species that compose those systems.
My work touches on three broad areas:
Chemical ecology
Secondary chemistry refers to plant chemical traits that are not directly linked to growth and reproduction, and provides the most diverse set of tools for plants to cope with biotic and abiotic challenges to survival and reproduction. I am interested in the ways that plant chemical traits, such as floral scent or the secondary chemistry of pollen, fruit, and seeds influence interactions between plants and their animal interaction partners (e.g. pollinators, herbivores, and seed dispensers), and how animals influence the evolution and ecological significance of these plant traits.
Multitrophic interactions and plant reproduction
The opportunities for and limitations to plant reproduction defined by pairwise plant-animal interactions may be modified by interactions across multiple trophic levels. Some of my work focuses on the ways in which plant neighborhoods modify interactions between plants and their animal partners (including pollinators and herbivores). Likewise, much of my chemical ecology work is driven by an attempt to understand how plants balance the needs to attract and reward pollinators and seed disperses against the need to avoid and limit herbivory (the "defense-attraction trade-off")
Floral reward strategies
Flowering plants use a wide array of tissues and products as pollinator rewards. Each of these reward types comes with a unique set of costs, attracts a sub-set of the animal community, and promotes different behavior patterns among these visitor species. In this way, each kind of pollinator reward may be viewed as a distinct "floral reward strategy". My work on floral rewards aims to understand how opportunities and limitations differ among reward strategies, why plant species employ one reward strategy over another, and what the expression of a given reward strategy might tell us about the ecological and evolutionary context that a plant species is embedded in.
My fieldwork is based at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado and the North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy, Florida.
Understanding how interactions between plants and animals shape plant reproductive outcomes and how plants mediate these interactions is central to determining the roles of these partnerships in the function of ecological systems and the evolutionary trajectories of the species that compose those systems.
My work touches on three broad areas:
Chemical ecology
Secondary chemistry refers to plant chemical traits that are not directly linked to growth and reproduction, and provides the most diverse set of tools for plants to cope with biotic and abiotic challenges to survival and reproduction. I am interested in the ways that plant chemical traits, such as floral scent or the secondary chemistry of pollen, fruit, and seeds influence interactions between plants and their animal interaction partners (e.g. pollinators, herbivores, and seed dispensers), and how animals influence the evolution and ecological significance of these plant traits.
Multitrophic interactions and plant reproduction
The opportunities for and limitations to plant reproduction defined by pairwise plant-animal interactions may be modified by interactions across multiple trophic levels. Some of my work focuses on the ways in which plant neighborhoods modify interactions between plants and their animal partners (including pollinators and herbivores). Likewise, much of my chemical ecology work is driven by an attempt to understand how plants balance the needs to attract and reward pollinators and seed disperses against the need to avoid and limit herbivory (the "defense-attraction trade-off")
Floral reward strategies
Flowering plants use a wide array of tissues and products as pollinator rewards. Each of these reward types comes with a unique set of costs, attracts a sub-set of the animal community, and promotes different behavior patterns among these visitor species. In this way, each kind of pollinator reward may be viewed as a distinct "floral reward strategy". My work on floral rewards aims to understand how opportunities and limitations differ among reward strategies, why plant species employ one reward strategy over another, and what the expression of a given reward strategy might tell us about the ecological and evolutionary context that a plant species is embedded in.
My fieldwork is based at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado and the North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy, Florida.
