Most broadly, my research interests are in the fields of behavior, ecology, and evolution. More specifically, I am interested in how social, ecological, and genetic factors combine to influence the evolution of individual strategies within animal societies; and, how individual strategies give rise to the major features of animal societies. I combine long-term field studies of marked populations with game theory and genetic analyses to provide a detailed understanding of particular societies, and uncover general principles that underlie the evolution of all societies.

In my work, I tend to use marine organisms, and in particular small territorial fishes, for three reasons: first, marine organisms, because the majority of ideas in evolutionary ecology are derived from studies of terrestrial organisms, and if we are to test the robustness of current theory and come up with new insights, then we must work with a wider variety of environments and taxa; second, territorial fishes, because they are amenable to the observations and experimental manipulations needed for rigorous empirical work; third, because I like working in the ocean.