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Welcome,
I am a
Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment
at the University of New Hampshire. By training, a marine
invertebrate zoologist, my research focuses on understanding
the processes that are responsible for the biodiversity we
observe in nature. To this end, I employ a variety of techniques
including traditional light and electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry,
molecular systematics, and conservation genetics; all in an
effort to understand the phylogeography, morphology, and ecology
of animals.
Specific
projects in my lab include the systematics of polyclads, a
group of marine, free-living fatworms. Other projects focus
on the biotic and abiotic factors of byssal thread production
in the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, and on allorecognition
in the tunicate Botrylloides violaceus. The latter
two projects are carried out by my current graduate students,
Yvette Garner and Andrea Frey, respectively.
Additionally,
I have a long-standing collaboration with Dr. John Litvaitis,
a wildlife ecologist also in the Department of Natural Resources.
While John focuses on understanding the population dynamics
of species in fragmented habitats, my contributions include
determining the underlying genetics.
To learn
more about specific projects, please check out the Research
link in the left menu.
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