Research Program Overview

My research program explores how grazing animals modify ecosystems, how different environmental factors control biodiversity, and how human-caused modifications of carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the air affect terrestrial ecosystems. Over the past few years, my students (both graduate and undergraduate) and I have worked with large grazing mammals, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, spiders, lizards, salamanders, grasses and trees at several interesting places, including southwestern and northern Utah, Minnesota, and South Africa.

For more details about my research and related publications, please select from the following:

Grazer-plant interactions across rainfall and soil fertility gradients

Fractal geometry of nature and biodiversity

Recovery of a threatened species: The Utah Prairie Dog

Global change in carbon and nitrogen budgets and plant-herbivore interactions

Self-organization in biological systems