RESEARCH

:I am interested in working with farmers, and other land managers to find ways to better protect and enhance landscape ecosystem services. I am particularly interested in how biodiversity plays a role in the availability ecosystem services, which include food and fiber production, carbon sequestration, and water quality/quantity in agricultural landscapes. My current research is focused on assessing the impacts of development interventions in the Millennium Village Project on biodiversity and the availability of ecosystem services.

My recent work includes an evaluation of the ecosystem functions provided by an organic tomato farmscape in Yolo County, California; a survey of the effects of brassica cover crops on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization of various production crops and an analysis of the transition of a large-scale cool season vegetable grower from conventional to organic production. I am also working on wildland ecological restoration projects in the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, looking at the use of residuals in the re-establishment of native vegetation and functional soil microbial communities.