I am an ecological anthropologist interested in the socioecology of subsistence in small scale societies. I pursue such topics as the gender division of labor in hunting and gathering, cooperation, costly signaling, indigenous conservation/land management, and fire ecology. I draw on theory, models, and methods from behavioral ecology and landscape ecology to answer questions about how local social contexts influence economic decision-making and how such decisions impact local ecological communities. With my colleagues Douglas Bird and Brian Codding, I’m currently working on projects related to the indigenous use of fire in both California and Australia. I supervise students working in India on costly signaling and religious ritual (Elly Power); in the Arctic on environmental uncertainty, climate change and traditional subsistence (Elspeth Ready); and in Irian Jaya on risk and the origins of agriculture (Michael Price).

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