In my research program, I am investigating the spatial patterns in ecosystems, the causes of these patterns, and the resultant effect of these patterns on organisms inhabiting the ecosystem. Some of the work that I do is usually categorized as biogeochemistry, or the roles that organisms play in the cycling of biologically important elements. Other projects, when examined independently from the rest of my work, are classical community ecology studies. I feel that the contribution of the body of my work is between these two subdisciplines of ecology: I am investigating the role that spatial variability in the processing of elements can play in determining the distribution of species in an environment; as well as how ecological community composition influences processing of biologically active elements.