My research focuses on the physiological ecology of managed and unmanaged sugar maple forests. Recently my work has centered on elucidating the factors involved in maple sap yield during the spring, and ways to improve sap production through taphole/tubing sanitation practices and tubing vacuum transfer. This research has led to several changes in how maple syrup producers collect sap, and has also resulted in several patent applications, and one licensed product, the Leader Check-valve spout adapter.

In addition, research at UVM PMRC in collaboration with other scientists focuses on health of maple trees, how tapping of trees for sap extraction affects growth, chemistry of maple sap and syrup, fall foliage color development, and the effects of global change on timing and duration of maple sap flow.

Another interest is in the ecology of montane forests of the northeast, done through periodic vegetation surveys on Camels Hump mountain (Huntington, Vermont). These surveys originated in the 1960s, and formed the basis for multiple evaluations of acidic deposition impacts on forest ecosystems.