- Biodiversity distributions and conservation. I am working with NY State Parks and the Natural Heritage Program to analyze patterns of rare species and natural community distributions in NY State. The state’s relatively large range of climate zones and geological features are linked to high beta diversity (geographic variation in species composition) for many plant and animal species and ecological communities. Related work includes habitat models and land cover analysis, in collaboration with UAlbany Research Associate John B. Davis.
- Watershed ecology and restoration. Working in both rural and urban watersheds, I am interested in relationships among wetlands, riparian (streamside) communities, and water quality. Work so far has focused on variation in dissolved nutrients and other contaminants (particularly de-icing road salts) in relation to the potential buffering capacity of wetland and riparian ecosystems. Related work, by Ph.D. student Rebecca Pinder, looks at distributions and abundance of invasive earthworms in rural headwater streams, and their consequences for food web dynamics.
- Disease ecology. In our Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Graduate Program, we are building a new emphasis on fundamental aspects of disease in natural populations. My contributions have been work on trophic interactions related to the spread and maintenance of Lyme disease in the greater Albany area (in collaboration with Dr. Roland Kays of the NY State Museum), and long-term studies of the beech bark disease, which arrived over 100 years ago in North America, and is now endemic, disrupting late stage forest succession and ecosystem processes.
- Forest ecology. Much of the post-agriculture forest cover in New York and New England is conifer plantations, many of them unmanaged and mixed in mosaics of natural forest. For example, New York State contains an estimated 500,000 acres of (largely non-native) pine plantations. As they age, are they reverting to native forest? Our work, including recent studies by M.S. student Emily Starr. indicates that plantations may remain distinctly different from native forests for upwards of 90 years, and they may require some forms of management if there is interest in integrating them into a natural forest landscape.
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