Colorado State University

My research program integrates collaborative, multidisciplinary studies at the organismal (survival strategies of nematodes) through ecosystem levels, to ask and answer questions about their impacts at landscape and global scales. I am interested in understanding how soil biodiversity (soil nematodes in particular) controls carbon cycling through decomposition and the processing of organic matter, and affect soil fertility by mineralizing nutrients and making these available for plants. The regulation of above and belowground interactions, especially the control and suppression of plant and animal pests and pathogens, after soils are disturbed, is an ongoing interest. I find that studying simple, low diversity polar ecosystems (the McMurdo Antarctica LTER) contributes to understanding how physical and biotic factors shape soil ecosystems and their biota.