I am fascinated by all elements of communication; everything from signal structure and receiver perception to decision-making and network theory. Some particular questions of interest:

How does variation in signal characteristics and sensory processing influence receiver responses?

How do ecological factors influence communication networks across social scales (e.g. individual < small groups < aggregate)?

Communication among organisms rarely occurs through private channels. Instead, signals sent to target receivers are transmitted through the environment, which comes with the risk of detection by non-target receivers. Some of these receivers are enemies (e.g. predators, parasites and parasitoids) that capitalize on the conspicuous signals of their prey to obtain resources. I am fascinated by how both enemies and their prey sense and perceive each other, and love investigating how foraging/anti-enemy strategies and decision-making processes influence these interactions.

Photo by Christian Ziegler

Humans directly and indirectly modulate the frequencies and intensities of wildfires. Capitalizing on large-scale controlled burns, I experimentally examine the disturbance ecology of wildfires in the Western United States. Specifically, I address how variation in wildfire intensities impacts dispersal, phenology and community assembly in birds, bats and insects. As I cannot get away from my interests in sensory ecology and predator-prey interactions, I also investigate the physical effects of smoke on bat bioacoustics.