My Research Focus is fairly broad and follows the focus either of methane and carbon dioxide production, emission and cycling, and/or stable isotope analysis. I work on a variety of research problems that involve fluxes of greenhouse gases and isotopic chemistry. Current projects include the effect of permafrost decomposition on CH4 release from boreal regions, the design of landfill covers to reduce CH4 emissions and the study of ecosystem respiration in pine forests and peatlands. I am also involved in studies of gas hydrate stability and am a member of the Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Research Consortium to establish a sea floor observatory. My research encompasses six different areas: 1. wetlands-- permafrost decomposition in the northern boreal zone; 2. food webs-- trophic relationships in estuaries; 3. reducing methane emissions to the atmosphere, designing landfill cover soils, which promote the growth of methane-consuming bacteria; 4. methane gas hydrates, which some estimate may be a large reservoir of fossil fuel to be mined; 5. pine forests, which can be large sinks for excess CO2; and 6. groundwater discharge, an overlooked process which is important to the nutrient budgets of coastal waters.