My research is driven by a desire to
understand the relationship between ecosystem dynamics and animal populations.
As the trophic-dynamic model of whole ecosystems gained favor in the 1960's
and 70's, many researchers began to downplay the importance of animals in
structuring ecosystems. New interest in the role of animals in ecosystems
has been stimulated by work in community ecology that indicated keystone
species strongly influence community composition as well as by work on "top-down"
controls on productivity. We now know that grazing, predation and physical
disturbance by animals can influence a host of processes at the ecosystem
level. My research combines the ecosystem perspective of energy and nutrient
flows with traditional population and community dynamics.
The importance of fish in exporting nutrients and carbon from estuaries.
The effect of habitat degradation on fish community structure in coastal
bays.
The response of upper trophic levels to increased nutrients in arctic
streams.
I use a combination of approaches ranging from large-scale experimental manipulation
of ecosystems, surveys of fish abundance and species composition, traditional
gut content analyses as well as state of the art techniques such as measuring
of the natural abundance and flows of 15N tracers in food webs.
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