Research Interests

 

Conservation can be done on small and large scales. Human activities including keeping yards and patio gardens, protecting areas from development, and even managing large scale agriculture can incorporate conservation efforts. Our impacts to the natural world can have unforeseen effects, and I am passionate in elucidating ways to improve our actions so that we assuage our negative impacts on ecosystems, organisms, and habitats.

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The long story:

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Conservation and landscape ecology are the primary focus points of my research. However, I also have interests outside of these areas and try to bridge them as much as possible. Most commonly, the big questions I am trying to answer are: how are our policies and practices affecting the local ecology, and; can we do "this" better to have more positive impacts on the local ecology? By understanding how human activities impact local ecology, we can change, or develop new, practices to have more positive impacts on ecosystems, organisms, and likely our economy.

 

For the past six years, my research has focused on wild invertebrate pollinators and has occurred coast to coast. During my travels and every day life, I capture observation points for iNaturalist which I also use in research questions. The methods I have used for my research so far include: field work and specimen collections; using GIS and eco-niche models; comparative lab studies and garden experiments; citizen science data query and; in situ observations. In the future I plan on expanding my approaches to include large plot experiments, mathematical modelling, and long term surveys. Furthermore, I am continually investigating new ways that my research can influence economic revenue or create research funds so that my research can be less dependent on granting agencies.  

 

Currently I have projects in the Mojave Desert, investigating native bee communities in cactus and Larea tridentata dominated vegetation communities as well as near Utility sized Solar Power Plants. A summary of this research is can be found here. I also have ongoing research on monarch butterflies and bumblebees in the United States.

 

My PhD research investigated the influence of canola production on native bees and butterflies. Working under the guidance of Dr. Kristen Baum at Oklahoma State University, we assessed the abundance and richness of bees and butterflies in landscapes of Oklahoma and Kansas where canola is planted. We also elucidated annual changes in bee abundance and diversity as well as larval development of wood nesting bees in these agricultural systems. 

 

In addition to my dissertation work, I have also begun investigating monarch butterfly ecology. Specifically, I am interested in sex ratios and parasite densities during the time monarchs migrate through the southern United States. I am also interested in how different larval food plants may affect morphology and parasitioid interactions. To the right is a video of a parasitoid Tachinid emerging from a monarch butterfly caterpillar.