Research Interests

An island in the Spartina archipelago

During my graduate work at Florida State University I conducted research on community ecology of salt marsh arthropods, and later on equilibrium biogeography of arthropods on Spartina islands on Appalachee Bay, in the Florida Panhandle. I also collaborated with Donald Strong, Earl McCoy and Ed Connor on several studies investigating various aspects of community structure with emphasis on the species-area relation.

Upon arrival at FMEL in 1979, I developed a basic/applied wetlands ecology program investigating the impacts of human activities on the Indian River Lagoon ecosystem and using research results to devise management strategies to minimize negative impacts and promote positive ones. A major environmental issue at that time was the impounding of more than 40,000 ha. of coastal marshes and mangrove forests for mosquito control. We investigated the ecology and environmental consequences of impounding on a wide variety of estuarine components including mangroves, fish and plankton communities, surface and pore water chemistry, vegetation distribution and production, and seagrass distribution and physiology. As a result of this research, management strategies for coastal wetlands were devised and are widely used today.

Servicing a plankton net designed for shallow mangrove forest habitats.	Sampling fish in an impoundment perimeter ditch.	Retrieving a pore water sample for sulfide analysis.
Setting up transect markers for a seagrass study.	Installing a device for sampling fish movements in and out of culverts.

Due to my tenure at the FMEL and to active collaborations with FMEL colleagues, I have also developed an interest in mosquito ecology and control. Since 1998 I have been involved in several projects including a study of habitat and geographic factors that influence the spatial distribution of several mosquito species that are potential disease vectors; studies on mosquito production from constructed wetlands, and studies on the use of copepods for biological control of mosquitoes. This part of my research program combines field and laboratory-based studies and the use of geographic information systems to analyze and categorize complex habitat variables and their relationship with the biology of mosquitoes and of their natural enemies (see " Current Research").