For a relatively recent overview of part of my research, see the video from my MBI online colloquium.

Together with Brett Melbourne (University of Colorado), we have a long term NSF supported project using laboratory populations of Tribolium to look at spatial population dynamics.   A somewhat outdated (2012) lecture on our work is available online.

In this NSF supported project (PI, AH; co-PI's Jon Machta, U Mass and Karen Abbott, Case Western) together with postdoc Shadi Esmaeili we are using ideas based on the physics concept of universality to study the dynamics of spatial biological systems with an emphasis on ecological systems.  The image shows how a spatial ecological model (colors are local population size) mimics the 'critical' behavior of the classic Ising model from physics used to describe the behavior of magnetic materials in 2 dimensions.

This NSF supported project is using ideas from integro-difference equations to look at metacommunity dynamics.   A first step is to look at single species, including ecosystem engineers like Spartina.

In this project, supported by California Sea Grant, we (Loo Botsford at UC Davis, PI and Will White, Oregon State) are using models to examine the dynamics of recovery of fished populations in networks of marine protected areas.  The goal is to provide scientific background to help with management of protected areas in California.

In this project, supported by a grant to my colleague Pete Mumby at the University of Queensland, we, along with Dr. Karlo Hock and others, are working on models for the dynamics of coral reefs with a focus on disturbances and the Great Barrier Reef (picture courtesy of Pete Mumby).

This is a large 5 year collaborative project, with Jizhong Zhou  and Daliang Ning, University of Oklahoma (lead institution); Mathew A, Leibold, University of Florida; and Qiang He, University of Tennessee.  The Davis portion will focus primarily on developing theoretical approaches for understanding transient dynamics in this system.