Comparative demography, ecology and economy
Human biology, reproductive ecology and life history
Relationship between demographic and economic transitions
Human growth and development
Children’s economic roles
Generational wealth transfers
Transformation of subsistence systems, changes in  labor costs and land use patterns
Maya ethnography
Hunter-gatherer ethnography

My research draws on evolutionary and ecological perspectives and has an empirical focus in traditional forager and agriculturist populations. The research questions I am addressing take two general directions, and share in common an interest in the human capacity for population growth.

My first research interest centers on human life history.

How do key feature of life history and subsistence ecology affect the fast pace of human reproduction?

How do mothers cross culturally meet the demands of providing high quality child care without sacrificing time spent in subsistence activities that fed older children?

Does the long period of human juvenile dependency  present an opportunity for children as helpers? 

Maya mothers, like Pumé mothers, are strapped for enough hours in the day to meet the competing demands of providing childcare to young children and  food and other resources to older children. While the Maya are agriculturalists and the Pumé are foragers, both offer a window into how mothers in natural fertility populations cope with this fundamental human life history tradeoff.

My second research interest involves the interaction between economic and demographic transitions. Most of the world’s subsistence populations, whether they are foragers or agriculturalists, are becoming integrated into regional and national economies.  Most researchers working with preindustrial populations inevitably consider the effects that acculturation has on traditional small scale societies.

How do changes in subsistence and labor affect female energetics and fertility? What aspects of economic development spur rather than constrain population growth? What effect does land availability, population growth and wealth stratification have on farming practices and deforestation? How do changes in subsistence and acculturation affect infant mortality, growth and development, age at first birth, health and nutritional status? The Maya and Pumé are poised on the edge of economic changes.  These include the introduction of labor-saving technologies, changes in labor dynamics and energetics, access to market foods,  increased fertility, decreased child mortality, rapid population growth, environmental degradation, and the development of economic stratification.