The Marsico Lab

My research focuses on biogeography, biodiversity conservation, community ecology, natural history, and species invasions. I currently research risk associated with hitchhiking plant propagules at US shipping ports, invasion of herbivorous insect pests, plant diversity patterns in fragmented landscapes of the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain, and plant diversity patterns along elevation gradients in the Neotropics.  My research emphasizes making and utilizing natural history collections to answer questions in ecology and evolution.  I also study biology education and improvements to university-level education utilizing specimen-based projects in coursework.  I have been a faculty member at Arkansas State University for over 13 years, where I teach Collections Curation and Research Design,  Dendrology, Global Change Biology, Plant Systematics, and Wetland Plant Ecology.  At A-State, I curate the herbarium and manage the Laboratory Sciences Greenhouse.