I am a benthic ecologist, broadly interested in how shellfish interact with other species and their environments, and how that impacts their populations and resilience.  In particular, my focus has been on how changing habitats - primarily due to anthropogenic impacts - affect the recruitment, survival, and growth of a number of commercially important shellfish species.  My research program seeks to bridge basic ecological theory and applied problems in order to better manage and restore shellfish populations.

Recent projects have included examining habitat and predation related issues for bay scallop restoration, how habitat setting impacts oyster recruitment, growth and survival, the impacts of boring sponges on oysters.  The future direction of my lab research will be to focus on how species interactions and ecosystem engineering might change with human-induced stressors and to investigate potential strategies for improving/maintaining ecosystem function.

Environmental Biology, Invertebrate Biology