Overview

What determines the abundance and dynamics of populations? To what extent and by what mechanisms do interspecific interactions influence the growth, dynamics, and stability of populations? How do attributes of multi-species networks of interspecific interactions influence community structure and food web dynamics? How do interspecific interactions influence the evolution of species traits, and how do such traits influence the stability and dynamics of interacting species? These fundamental questions in ecology and evolutionary biology are at the core of our research. Specifically, we are interested in mutualistic interactions, for which there is at best only a rudimentary understanding of their influences on the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of populations and communities. The research program of the Holland lab is broadly aimed at (1) the elucidation of patterns (static structure) and processes (mechanistic dynamics) of mutualism across populations, communities, and ecosystems, and (2) the development of a general conceptual basis for unifying and understanding these patterns and processes.

To address these research goals, we employ theoretical and empirical approaches, including experiments, long-term monitoring, and natural history studies in the field. We are interested in a diverse array of mutualisms in nature, though most of our studies involve plant-insect interactions. In particular, we maintain long-term studies on the pollinating seed-consuming mutualism between senita cacti and senita moths in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico and Arizona. This interaction serves as a model system to develop theory and empirically test hypotheses. While much of our research is focused on mutualism, we are broadly interested in a diverse set of topics, ranging from evolutionary and population ecology to community and ecosystem ecology. Some of these topics include demography, population dynamics, density dependence, functional responses, interspecific population regulation, consumer-resource interactions, plant-animal interactions, geographic mosaic of species interactions, community structure, food web dynamics, coevolution, pollination ecology, plant reproductive biology, and among others ecology of the Sonoran Desert.