Research interests include Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Biology.
Specifically, plant-insect interactions of three trophic-level interactions using
goldenrods, ball gall insects, and natural enemies as well as oaks and cynipid gall
insects, speciation of phytophagous insects; the ecology of fire in Florida's upland
scrub communities; conservation studies of local natural areas.

Goldenrods, Herbivores, and Natural Enemies

Ducking as the means of resistance in "candy-cane" stems of goldenrod: Straightened stems lose their edge (with M. J. Wise, W. G. Abrahamson, and J. A. Cole), American Journal of Botany (2010)
 
Genetic variation for susceptibility to storm-induced stem breakage in Solidago altissima: the role of stem height and morphology (with M. J. Wise and W. G. Abrahamson), Acta Oecologica (2010)
 
Nutrition as a facilitator of host-race formation: The role of food quality in the shift of a stem-boring beetle to a gall host (with C. P. Blair, R. V. Schlanger, S. E. Diamond, and W. G. Abrahamson), Ecological Entomology (2010)
 
Associational resistance, gall-fly preferences, and a stem dimorphism in Solidago altissima (with M. J. Wise, C. G. Yi, and W. G. Abrahamson), Acta Oecologica (2009)
 

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Behavioural, ecological and genetic evidence confirm the occurrence of host-associated differentiation in goldenrod gall midges (with N. Dorchin, S.D. Jordan, E.R. Scott, C.E. Clarkin, and M.P. Luongo), Journal of Evolutionary Biology (2009)
 

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Florida Vegetation, Fire Ecology, and Masting

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Extensive clonal spread and extreme longevity in saw palmetto, a foundation clonal plant (with Mizuki K. Takahashi, Liana M. Horner, Toshiro Kubota, and Nathan A. Keller), Molecular Ecology (2011)
 
Spatiotemporal variation of fruit digestible-nutrient production in Florida's uplands (with J. N. Layne and W. G. Abrahamson), Acta Oecologica (2010)
 
Life in the slow lane: Palmetto seedlings exhibit remarkable survival but slow growth in Florida's nutrient-poor uplands (with W. G. Abrahamson and C. R. Abrahamson), Castanea (2009)
 

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Leaf traits and leaf life spans of two xeric-adapted palmettos, American Journal of Botany (2007)
 

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Review of the Nearctic gallwasp species of the genus Bassettia Ashmead, 1887, with description of new species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) (with G. Melika), Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (2007)
 

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Plant Ecology/Demography

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Extensive clonal spread and extreme longevity in saw palmetto, a foundation clonal plant (with Mizuki K. Takahashi, Liana M. Horner, Toshiro Kubota, and Nathan A. Keller), Molecular Ecology (2011)
 
Ducking as the means of resistance in "candy-cane" stems of goldenrod: Straightened stems lose their edge (with M. J. Wise, W. G. Abrahamson, and J. A. Cole), American Journal of Botany (2010)
 
Genetic variation for susceptibility to storm-induced stem breakage in Solidago altissima: the role of stem height and morphology (with M. J. Wise and W. G. Abrahamson), Acta Oecologica (2010)
 
Spatiotemporal variation of fruit digestible-nutrient production in Florida's uplands (with J. N. Layne and W. G. Abrahamson), Acta Oecologica (2010)
 
Associational resistance, gall-fly preferences, and a stem dimorphism in Solidago altissima (with M. J. Wise, C. G. Yi, and W. G. Abrahamson), Acta Oecologica (2009)
 

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Oaks, Cynipid Wasps, and Others

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Review of the Nearctic gallwasp species of the genus Bassettia Ashmead, 1887, with description of new species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) (with G. Melika), Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (2007)
 
Testing broad ecological concepts on a narrow range of species (with P.W. Price, M.D. Hunter, and G. Melika), Conservation Biology (2004)
 

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Cynipid gall-wasp communities correlate with oak chemistry (with M.D. Hunter, G. Melika, and P.W. Price), Journal of Chemical Ecology (2003)
 

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Long-term patterns of acorn production for five oak species in xeric Florida uplands (with J.N. Layne), Ecology (2003)
 

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Post-fire recovery of acorn production by four oak species in southern ridge sandhill association in south-central Florida (with J.N. Layne), American Journal of Botany (2002)
 

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Pennsylvania and Arizona Natural Areas

Plant and pollinator diversity in northern Arizona (with L.E. Stevens, T.L. Griswold, O. Messenger, and T.J. Ayers), The Plant Press (2007)
 

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Purple loosestrife on the Susquehanna River’s West Branch: distribution and environmental correlates (with E. Ketterer), Northeastern Naturalist (2006)
 

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Classification and successional changes of mixed-oak forests at the Mohn Mill area, Pennsylvania (with A.C. Gohn), Castanea (2004)
 

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Forest composition, spatial pattern, and size structure of the Snyder-Middleswarth Natural Area old-growth, Snyder County, Pennsylvania (with P.P. Zawadzkas), Castanea (2003)
 
Montandon Marsh: a vegetation description of a potentially endangered wetland (with E. R. Hochman, W. G. Abrahamson, and J. G. Clark), Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science (1996)
 

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Pedagogy/How We Do Science

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EcoSampler: A learning object for community sampling, community structure, and succession (with M.R. Weaver), Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America (2008)
 
Insects raise some galling questions, New England Wild Flower Conservation Notes 8 (2004)
 

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Just Lookin' for a Home (with A. E. Weis), Natural History (1998)
 
Plant-animal interactions (with W. G. Abrahamson and T. N. Taylor), McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, 8th edition (1994)
 
(Editor) Plant-Animal Interactions (textbook) (1989)
 

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