My research focuses on how marine plants and animals interact with their physical environment. Specifically, I am interested in how water flow interacts with animal behavior to structure ecological interactions such as predation, competition, and dispersal. Odor dispersal in marsh habitats.
Many animals use olfactory cues to locate mates, food, or suitable habitat.
Recent advances in chemical sensor technology have allowed us to measure odor distribution at time and space scales similar to natural chemoreceptors. This work has shown that odor plumes are not stable gradients in odor concentration, rather, they are comprised of incompletely mixed odor filaments. If such flow obstructions result in odor plume characteristics which interfere with mate finding or predation, then the presence of such obstructions may help to explain habitat preferences exhibited by many marine animals. Mass transport around coral reefs. Corals, like other sessile organisms, rely on ambient water currents to supply nutrients and to remove wastes.