My research program seeks to better understand the role of ecological processes in shaping fish distribution and population characteristics, habitat requirements of fish, and evolutionary adaptations of aquatic organisms in response to environmental gradients. Specifically, I focus on three drivers of fish communities and populations: (1) aquatic thermal regimes, (2) Arctic landscapes dynamics, and (3) invasive species.
Currently, we lack a robust understanding of how these processes influence fish communities in high-latitude ecosystems for which information is critical to inform management and policy decisions due to a rapidly changing landscape from natural and human pressures. To understand processes that influence fish communities in Arctic and Subarctic ecosystems, my research program combines field monitoring, large-scale comparative studies, simulation modeling, and experiments at multiple spatial and temporal scales and results of these studies are used to guide conservation, protection, and management of fish and fish habitats throughout the North Pacific Rim and Alaska.