I'm interested in the biologically mediated feedbacks of land-use change on fluxes and distribution of carbon and nutrients in tropical ecosystems. In the tropics, ecosystem engineers such as the termites affect the immobilization, storage, and release of nutrients. Understanding how this key faunal group responds to changes in land use and how it processes organic matter is important to an understanding the distribution of carbon and nutrients in these changing ecosystems. I am evaluating the effects of land management on abundance of termite mounds, the effect of termite mounds on vegetation, the physical, chemical, and hydrological properties of termite mounds, nutrient stocks and fluxes in the termite mounds and surrounding soils, and limiting factors to plant development on termite mounds.