Our research explores the ecological impacts of dams and advances the science of environmental flows for river restoration. I published several seminal papers offered novel insight into the extent of free-flowing rivers globally (Nature 2019a), global biases in hydrologic gaging (Nature Sustainability 2018), impacts of hydropower dams (Nature Reviews Earth and Environment 2024), mapping of small dams (Nature Water 2025), strategic planning of new small hydropower plants (Nature Sustainability 2021) and designing novel environmental flows (Nature Communications 2017). This body of research informs the development and application of environmental flow standards to meet freshwater biodiversity conservation goals (Science 2017, Nature Ecology and Evolution 2017a), and a highly cited paper advocated incorporating thermal regimes into environmental flow assessments (Freshwater Biology 2010).

Our research has elucidated the implications of climate change for freshwater fishes (Nature Ecology and Evolution 2024), predicted the climate vulnerability of freshwater and marine fishes (Nature Climate Change 2017), explored extreme climate events and preparing for uncertain futures (Nature 2019b, Nature Reviews Biodiversity, in press), and forecasted the community and ecosystem effects of urbanization and agricultural development (Ecology 2023, Global Change Biology  2017, 2020). Perhaps most influential is my pioneering work on the process and implications of biotic homogenization, which launched an entirely new line of inquiry in macroecology, extending well beyond freshwater systems, and sparking what is now thousands of published articles across diverse taxonomies and geographies (American Naturalist 2003, Ecology 2004, Trends in Ecology and Evolution 2004, Global Ecology and Biogeography 2014, NeoBiota 2018, among others). 

By placing invasive species into the larger biodiversity crisis (Biological Reviews), our innovative research has studied the impacts of freshwater fishes across scales of ecological organization (Fisheries), revealed how climate change may amplify the spread of invaders (Conservation Biology), revealed new pathways of invasion associated with e-commerce and social media (Conservation Biology), highlighted gaps in national-level response capacities for invasive species (Nature Communications), offered phylogeographic insights into the invasion history and secondary spread of the signal crayfish in Japan (Ecology and Evolution 2016), demonstrated the challenges of large-scale eradication (Nature Ecology and Evolution 2017b), reviewed technological advances in invasive species management (Bioscience 2023), and interrogated the role of nonnative species in modern conservation (Conservation Biology 2011, Trends in Ecology and Evolution 2022).

Our research has advanced the use of species traits as an interpretive lens and investigative currency for understanding the processes shaping species responses to environmental change and for anticipating effects on ecosystem processes. This work includes quantifying size-biased extinction risk of the world’s freshwater and marine fishes (Global Ecology and Biogeography 2007), using traits-based approaches support the conservation relevance of landscape genetics (Ecology 2015, Conservation Genetics 2018), advancing conservation systematic planning based on functional diversity (Ecological Applications 2011), revealing how disassembly rules buffer freshwater ecosystem processes from anthropogenic change (Global Change Biology 2017), and using life history traits predict invasion and extinction risk of the world’s freshwater fishes (Ecological Monographs 2008, Aquatic Conservation 2017).

Our research has contributed new knowledge of the structure and function of freshwater food webs in lakes and rivers globally. This has included innovative advances in the use of stable isotope analysis of fish eye lens (Ecosphere 2024) and fish scales (River Research and Applications 2019) to quantify lifetime trophic change of species, conducting a global investigation of lake habitat coupling by fishes (Oecologia 2023), quantifying trophic interactions using fatty acid biomarkers (Conservation Biology 2010, TAFS 2020), examining the decoupling of Grinnellian and Eltonian niche conservatism between the USA and Japan (Ecosphere 2010), and using food web models to guide the strategic and effective management and control of invasive species (Journal of Applied Ecology 2015, Ecological Applications 2025).

Our research has sought to apply emerging conservation technologies to improve our understanding and management of ecosystems. Examples of research include testing autonomous (ROV) suction harvesting as a novel approach to aquatic invasive plant control (Freshwater Science 2024), using web scrapping and crawling tools to quantify the biosecurity risk from the online trade in ornamental crayfish (Conservation Biology 2024), leveraging volunteered geographic information derived from mobile device applications (e.g., Twitter, eBird, iNaturalist) to quantify visitation and cultural ecosystem services offered by freshwater ecosystems (Landscape and Urban Planning, in review), using large language models to explore trends in our scientific knowledge (Fish and Fisheries 2019, Biological Conservation, in press), reviewing technological innovations enhance invasive species management (BioScience 2023), advancing the use of environmental DNA to predict the spread of invasive species (Canadian Journal of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences 2020, TAFS 2024), DNA metabarcoding to elucidate predator impacts on native salmon (Ecological Applications, in press), and lake-wide mapping of littoral habitat using underwater videography (Knowl. Manag. Aquat. Ecosyst. 2022).scription