I currently focus on preventing and managing plant invasions as the UF/IFAS Assessment Coordinator at the University of Florida, using science-based risk assessment tools to evaluate non-native plants, proposed introductions, and new agricultural or horticultural varieties in Florida.

My research also examines how invasive plants, drought, and fire interact to shape native plant communities. Through a long-term field experiment, my work has provided the first experimental evidence of the fire-invasion cycle, showing how repeated fire can promote invasive, fire-adapted species like cogongrass while degrading native ecosystems. Previously, I also worked extensively with plant-animal interactions (particularly frugivory) in the Caribbean and Central Africa, and how they could be affecting by human effects.