We investigate how ecosystem responses to global change drivers are mediated by biotic processes. Specifically, we study how ecosystem function is influenced by mutualisms, competition, consumers, and alterations in abiotic resource availability. Projects in our lab examine a diverse suite of global change drivers, such as nutrient deposition and runoff, consumer loss, altered climatic regimes, and species invasions. We use a variety of techniques to investigate ecosystem responses to global change agents, including long-term experiments, observational data collection, and statistical data synthesis.
We work across a broad range of sites within the United States, studying species invasions in California grasslands, rangeland sustainability in Montana, Wyoming, and Kansas, grassland dynamics in Kansas, forest dynamics in Maryland, and soybean agriculture in Maryland.
Recent Happenings:
August 2023: Welcome to all of our new lab members, including PhD student Elise Grabda, MS student Millie Ortiz, and undergraduate students Special Puri, Elijah Resuello, Zoe Edmonson, Kimberly Gonzalez, and Briana Worley!
August 2023: Rachael and Kim attended the annual Ecological Society of America meeting this summer in Portland, Oregon! It was great to see friends and colleagues there and hear about some amazing science.
August 2023: Rachael and Kim attended the annual Ecological Society of America meeting this summer in Portland, Oregon! It was great to see friends and colleagues there and hear about some amazing science.
June 2023: Milan Toomer received an Undergraduate Research Creativity Award, amazing! She's hard at work this summer planting lots of legumes in the greenhouse to see how plant-soil feedbacks impact legume species coexistence.
June 2023: Rachael and Zachary are out at Konza Prairie for the summer to study tallgrass prairie plant and insect communities!
June 2023: Rachael and Zachary are out at Konza Prairie for the summer to study tallgrass prairie plant and insect communities!
May 2023: Congratulations to our graduates, Wudeh Saidykhan and Jayda Gresham! We're so proud of your accomplishment!
May 2023: We are sad to say farewell to Sarah Alley, who has been a fabulous technician for the lab's beanDIP and GMDR projects for more than two years! Sarah excelled at detailed lab work and was always ready with a smile. Sarah moves on to graduate school and we wish her all the best!
find more here
May 2023: We are sad to say farewell to Sarah Alley, who has been a fabulous technician for the lab's beanDIP and GMDR projects for more than two years! Sarah excelled at detailed lab work and was always ready with a smile. Sarah moves on to graduate school and we wish her all the best!
find more here
