To explore the interactions between natural processes and human land use at the basin-scale, I focus on the processes of sediment transport and deposition, because in many instances sediment not only links different components of the landscape (e.g. wetlands, forests, pastures, etc), but also the biological, physical, and chemical constituents of a single component. For example, in a riparian wetland, fine sediment is brought in by floods and creates new surfaces for pioneer plant species. Sediment is often loaded with important nutrients and metals required to sustain life, but it also carries toxins and heavy metals. Rates and quantities of sediment transport and deposition are primarily controlled by hydrodynamics, so sediment can be used to reconstruct past fluid mechanics.

To study sediment, I use a combination of field monitoring, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and computer modeling. Field measurements are important because sedimentary processes are highly complex and not yet accountable using standard mathematical and physics techniques. However, such measurements in and of themselves rarely reveal anything, when a conceptual model and testable hypotheses have not been developed. Computer modeling is necessary because we can not make measurements of field processes at large spatial scales or over long time periods. Models give us insights into how different components of the landscape interact over the long term. They also suggest new areas of field measurement. The more that measurements can be placed within a modeling context, the better the outcome of a project tends to be.