My research focuses on the role that host variation plays in driving the dynamics of consumers. Much of the empirical work that we do involves the association between cactus moths and the Opuntioid cacti (the prickly pears) that serve as their hosts. Much of my past work has focused on determining the host range, ecotypic variation, and distributional limits of the South American cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum. Attempts to rear native moths in the laboratory led to a current interest in the role of herbivores in the structure and function of the plant microbiome and how changes in the microbiome influence plant phenotype.