Research in my laboratory can be divided into two major areas:

1. Foraging ecology of terrestrial rodents
   
   The aim of this research is to understand interactions between herbivorous rodents and their major plant foods. We use live trapping and radiotelemetry to determine selection habitat patches within heterogeneous habitats, to reveal movement patterns between and within habitat patches, and to understand mechanisms of patch selection. We use feeding experiments, analyses of diets, and assays of major nutrients in diet items to understand selection of diet items. GIS modeling is used to determine cost and benefit of movements in heterogeneous habitats.
   
    
2. Conservation biology
   
   a. Ecological impact of exotic species on native flora and fauna
   We are interested in how exotic plants affect litter- and ground-dwelling consumer organisms in eastern deciduous forest. We also are interested in understanding the relationship between global climate change and exotic species. In particular, how alteration in rainfall and temperature that result from global climate change affects density and distribution of exotic plant species and how these changes, in turn, affect consumer organisms and nutrient flow.
   
   b. Effects of anthropogenic factors in eastern deciduous forest
   We study how fragmentation of eastern deciduous forest affects density, reproduction, movement patterns, parasitism, and foraging dynamics of small mammals. We also are studying whether parasitism affects social and reproductive behavior of small mammals and whether type of habitat adjacent to fragments of eastern deciduous forest (e.g., old field, agricultural, urban) affects population parameters of small mammals in forest fragments. We study other types of direct human effects (e.g., trampling of vegetation and compaction of soil) to determine effects upon producer and consumer organisms and to ascertain whether these effects are transferred through the trophic web.
   
   c. Patterns of biodiversity
   We seek to understand factors that affect patterns of biodiversity. We use GIS to combine data layers of species richness of vertebrates, habitat, soils, weather, and elevation. We use analyses of habitat heterogeneity and statistical analyses of physical factors to assess affects on biodiversity at various geographic scales.