I am an evolutionary ecologist who specializes on lungless salamanders, the most speciose group of salamanders. My research centers on the genus Desmognathus, which I use as a model system to study life history evolution, species interactions, population genetics and speciation. My work is also more generally aimed at understanding patterns and conservation of biodiversity of the Southern Appalachian region, a temperate zone Biodiversity Hotspot. He is the founder of the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Institute (sabionline.org), a non-profit NGO that is dedicated to this mission through various types of education and outreach, including public talks. Finally, I am interested in how to use information about speciesÕ physiological tolerances, and their genetic structure to predict the relative endangerment of different species to global climate change. Current research focuses on using population genetic and morphological data to delimit cryptic species in several groups of Appalachian salamanders in the genera Desmognathus and Aneides. Other ongoing work is examining speciesÕ physiological properties as determinants of their ecological ranges and their population genetic structure. I am also heading an international working group that is examining how to develop operational, objective criteria for assessing relative endangerment of species to climate change. Previous work has examined life history evolution, evolutionary ecology of growth rates, and the evolutionary ecology of maternal effects.