My research interest is in mathematical models of the emergence and maintenance of biodiversity. I want to use these models to predict changes to these ecosystems under disturbances.
In my research, I use a combination of mathematical modeling and transmission experiments in the field to study how host diet and climate play a role in patterns of pathogen variation at multiple scales in the Douglas-fir tussock moth-baculovirus system.
I study the functional causes and consequences of host plant changes in Pierinae butterflies, and will use a combination of functional genetics, comparative phylogenomics, transcriptomics, and biochemical assays in my research to do so.
I am intrigued by the patterns of distribution of phenotypic variation in nature. I use genotype-phenotype maps to understand why a given molecular function evolved, and ask how accessible were different alternative outcomes during evolution.
