Conservation biology is a very multi-faceted discipline. I apply the tools of systematics to plant conservation--that is, the central focus of my work is the discovery, taxonomic circumscription, and monography of plants, and the subsequent development of applied resources that facilitate their identification and communication of information about them. Taxonomic understanding is an obligate prerequisite for any conservation work, guiding everything from rapid bioinventory, to official listing, species-specific biological inquiry, or management decisions. To document and understand plant diversity is Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (Convention for Biological Diversity). Associated with this work, I serve on the NC DACS Plant Conservation Board.
