Nassella pulchra
 Welcome! We are interested in the dominance and diversity of plant species in nature. We study how species interactions, soil feedbacks, and disturbance may help determine these patterns. We use this understanding to address problems of invasive species, environmental change and habitat restoration.



LAB NEWS

January-February 2008
  • Congratulations to Isabel, whose paper with Katie on resource partitioning in the tundra was accepted in Oecologia.
  • More congratulations to Isabel, who is getting married this spring!
  • Katie's paper with Tim Seastedt and Richard Hobbs about novel ecosystems and restoration (Frontiers in Ecology and Environment) is getting some press (news release)

December 2007
  • A paper by Stan, Dan and Katie on nitrogen and water co-limitation in California Grasslands was published in Global Change Biology.
  • Congratulations to Michelle and Marlyse, who received undergraduate research (UROP) awards. 
  • More papers from the fertilization synthesis work! David Chalcraft lead a paper on effects of N on beta-diversity (in press in Ecology) and -- thanks to Elsa Cleland -- the complete dataset will be available as a data paper (also in press in Ecology).  

November 2007
  • The plight of the burned DOE experiment was covered in a front-page article in the Orange County Register, including great photos from Jane.
  • Congratulations to Isabel and Ryan whose paper with Katie on resilience in alpine tundra was accepted in Ecology.
  • Both Leah and Heather advanced to canidancy with flying colors. Nicely done!
  • Loralee recieved a supplement fellowship from NSF for her work on invasions in California grasslands.
  • Nico Gross, a visiting graduate student from the Lavorel lab in Grenoble, defended his disseration and  published "Complementarity as a mechanism of coexistence between functional groups of grasses" in J. of Ecology with Katie and Sandra.
October 2007
  • Congratulations to Dan and Stan whose paper with Katie on the ecosystem consequences of artichoke thistle was accepted in Biological Invasions.
  • Rebecca recieved a Newkirk Fellowship for her research on community assembly.       
September 2007
  • Welcome to Loralee who starts grad school with us this month!
  • Congratulations to Stan whose paper with Katie on negative frequency dependence was accepted in Ecology Letters.
  • Isabel presented at the NADP conference in Boulder on the 12th.
  • Margaret presented at the Cal IPC conference on the 20th.
  • Goodbye to Dan who starts his faculty position at Buffalo State,  Kim who starts her graduate studies at Yale, and Diana who starts her graduate program at Columbia. Good luck!