Research Interests

My interests are broadly, but not solely, based in population- and community-level ecology. I strive to address questions of interest using contemporary advances in experimental design, analysis, and estimation. At a population level, I have focused on the effects of forest fragmentation on permanent-resident birds in the US and Vietnam, testing life history predictions in long-lived birds, waterfowl ecology, and working on a number of applied conservation projects.

These applied conservation projects generally focus on species of concern (threatened/endangered). Some examples include the work I have done with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and many other agencies in Southern California on a number of species that are foci of Habitat Conservation Plans. I have worked with the Colorado Division of Wildlife on species of concern in Colorado. I work with the USFWS and the USGS on survey design and the modeling of demographic parameters for albatrosses in support of projects focused on the effects of long-line fishing practices on these species. I also work closely with USDA colleagues on disease ecology questions, most recently on transmission cycles of West Nile virus and risk assessments for avian influenza.

At the community level I have been interested in testing macroecological patterns using advances in estimating community-level parameters. I have also been involved in testing predictions concerning how sexual selection affects species extinction and turnover and predictions concerning extinction and turnover rates at the edge and interior of species ranges.

Please see "Publications" and "Students and R.A.s for more detail.

Someday I would like to study Doherty's Bush Shrike.