I have research interests and activities spanning a range of geographic subdisciplines. My anchor research is in the area of biogeography and biogeomorphology.  I am interested in how 'fast' geomorphic systems, like rivers and dune systems, can be used to frame as well as answer questions about the correlates and controls of plant biodiversity. 'Fast' implies that there are high throughputs or mobilities in sediments and water that allow for more turnover and better visibility of feedbacks and threshold behaviours among organisms and their environment. I am presently incubating a project to examine the phase space of barrier island biogeomorphic relationships among a wide range of barrier island types. This line of research is field-data driven and utilizes mostly quantitative multivariate exploratory methods.

Another component of my research focuses on bioclimatology in the context of urban systems and the human modification of weather and climate.  Because of their enhanced heat and air pollution, cities can alter the processes leading to convection, rainfall and lightning production.  My work in this area has entailed mapping the distribution of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes in and around Atlanta, Georgia.  At present, I am extending this research to the boundary between continental and maritime air regimes in order to examine how the transition from relatively clean maritime air to dirty, aerosol-laden continental air may modify the intensity of landfalling hurricanes. Methodologically, this bioclimatological work relies upon the GIS-based visualization of long-term climatological data sets. These data sets are 'mined' in a logical way so as to test as well as articulate hypotheses about the mechanisms of urban weather modification.

I have several peripheral projects, student-affiliated work, intellectual itches, and manuscripts in development that examine a variety of questions with overt ties to geographic thought and practice. They span quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies:

Scale theory from evolutionary and biological perspectives
The reptile pet trade and the role of assemblage geographies for reptile conservation.
Biodiversity recorded in wildlife rehabilitation records and sociodemographic correlates
Land use, pollen forage characteristics, and honey bee health
Geographies of apiculture and pollination services

There are more ideas and questions than I will ever have time to pursue fully, so if you are interested in any of these topics and wish to earn internship credit, volunteer for a semester, or undertake a thesis or dissertation, please contact me.  I am open to other research topics and do not consider it necessary that our interests have an exact one-to-one correspondence.