My work focuses on how nitrogen and other
nutrients cycle in soils and how soil biogeochemical processes influence
the patterns and magnitudes of nutrient losses to soil solution, ground waters
and adjacent surface waters, in the Amazon basin and in coastal Massachusetts.
I link interest in soil biogeochemistry with study of how disturbances that
alter nitrogen supply will influence the plant diversity of affected species-rich
but historically low-nutrient ecosystems. In work on coastal sandplain forests,
shrublands and grasslands, I am examining the effects of forest clearing
and prescribed fire on plant diversity and mobilization of nitrogen in soils.
In coastal plain ponds, I examine how nitrogen and phosphorus loading from
the watersheds is linked to the diversity and dynamics of the shoreline flora.
I work with land management groups such as The Nature Conservancy to translate
this information into ecosystem management for rare plant species. I conduct
local research on the following topics.
How forest clearing and prescribed burning influence plant
species composition and diversity in the New England coastal plain
How forest disturbances of clearing and burning alter
soil nitrogen cycling, mobilization of dissolved nitrogen to ground water
and to local estuaries
How nutrient loading influences plant species composition
of diverse freshwater coastal plain pond shorelines
How nitrogen supply and other aspects of soil fertility
affect the success of sandplain grassland restoration on old agricultural
lands
The influence of the history of agricultural land use
on coastal plain soils and the implications of soil characteristics for future
grassland and shrubland restoration
