Department Member, Program on the Environment
About
I completed my PhD with Dr. David A. Armstrong at UW, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences in September 2006 where my research focused on the ecology of the non-indigenous European green crab, Carcinus maenas, in the northeastern Pacific. Using a combination of field and laboratory experiments, survey techniques, telemetry, videography, bioenergetics modeling, and synthesis, I investigated the distribution and habitat use of the species in relation to its physiology and ecology. This work and other efforts have emphasized mechanistic approaches to aquatic ecology, giving me a solid background in experimental design, models, geospatial tools, and statistical analyses.
More recently a major goal of my research has been to understand how a suite of anthropogenic perturbations alter conditions within nearshore marine ecosystems and how organisms respond to these changes. To this end, I am pursuing research on organismal and community responses to agents of ecosystem change, such as invasive species, physical disturbance, hypoxia, acidification, and climate disruption. As a rule I approach scientific problems using multiple methods of inquiry (e.g., models, experiments, field observations, etc.) in order to achieve a thorough understanding of the organism or system under study.
