I am interested in the community ecology of coastal forests. Specifically, I am currently conducting research on invasive herbivores (the hemlock woolly adelgid and elongate hemlock scale) that infest and kill eastern hemlock. The loss of these trees changes the abiotic environment of headwater streams, leading to increased siltation and altered nutrient inputs in water that flows into coastal ecosystems. In addition, my Ph.D. thesis concerned predator-prey-plant interactions in a native CA coastal prairie ecosystem.