My research expertise encompasses three primary areas of focus, including (i) effects of environmental stress, such as shoreline development and hypoxia, upon benthic invertebrate diversity, (ii) predator-prey dynamics and top-down versus bottom-up control of benthic systems, and (iii) restoration ecology. My current research projects continue my emphasis on the three research areas noted above and include the impacts of habitat degradation on faunal communities, restoration of bivalves in the Chesapeake Bay, nursery habitat quality for the blue crab in the Chesapeake Bay, benthic predator-prey relationships, and food-web dynamics. Additional interests include experimental and theoretical population and community ecology of marine benthic and epibenthic organisms focused towards a quantitative understanding of processes operating in estuaries and the coastal ocean.