Together with Russell Scott (USDA-ARS), Saziye Bayram (Buffalo State-Mathematics), and Joaquin Carbonara (Buffalo State-Mathematics), we are analyzing soil moisture data to better understand how woody plants interact with rainfall to influence patterns of soil moisture through time, at different depths in the soil profile and between neighboring landscape patches on the Santa Rita Experimental Range in southern Arizona.  New results, published in the journal Ecohydrology, inform a range of topics in semi-arid ecosystem ecology including rainfall impacts on carbon biogeochemistry and the ecohydrological consequences of woody plant invasions.

Home      People     Projects      Buffalo State College

 

As an undergraduate honor’s research student, John Hirtreiter examined how shifts in canopy structure interact with species-specific patterns of resource allocation to reinforce the invasion of Phragmites australis into cattail wetlands at Tifft Nature Preserve.  John’s work appears in the journal Plant Ecology.

With the cooperation of Tifft Nature Preserve, M.A. student Lynn Socha is investigating how N and P amendment influences ecosystem structure and function in a restored temperate grassland.  Using a replicated field experiment, she is documenting seasonal patterns of canopy-scale photosynthesis and respiration, two components of ecosystem CO₂ exchange.  Results of this experiment will improve our understanding of how two important global change factors, nutrient amendment and changing patterns of human land-use, influence ecosystem carbon balance. 

Home

 

People

 

Projects

 

Buffalo State College

Projects

 

 

 

We are working with collaborators from UC-Irvine and

UC-Berkeley to  better understand how severe drought and fire interact to influence a southern California coastal grassland.    Working in the context of a rainfall manipulation experiment developed through cooperation with the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, we have documented patterns of leaf  physiological performance, changes in community composition and shifts in ecosystem CO2 and H2O exchange in response to changes in rainfall and in response to prescribed fire.  Our work recently appeared in the Journal of Arid Environments.