A5066780694- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Plant and animal studies
- Plant Parasitism and Resistance
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Forest Management and Policy
- Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies
- Ecosystem dynamics and resilience
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
- Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
- Forest ecology and management
- Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology
- Pasture and Agricultural Systems
- Agronomic Practices and Intercropping Systems
- Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Nematode management and characterization studies
- Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry Studies
- Insects and Parasite Interactions
- Genetic diversity and population structure
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
University of California, Riverside
2016-2025
University of Montana
2014-2020
University of California, Berkeley
2011-2016
Summary Ecological restoration is a global priority that holds great potential for benefiting natural ecosystems, but outcomes are notoriously unpredictable. Resolving this unpredictability represents major, critical challenge to the science of ecology. In an effort move ecology toward more predictive science, we consider key issue variability. Typically, vary relative goals (i.e. reference or desired future conditions) and with respect other efforts. The field has largely considered only...
Summary Rainfall is a key determinant of production and composition in arid semi‐arid systems. Long‐term studies relating water availability primarily focus on current‐year precipitation patterns, though mounting evidence highlights the importance previous‐year rainfall particularly grasslands dominated by perennial species. The extent to which lagged effects occur annual grasslands, however, remains largely unexplored. We pair long‐term study with two manipulative experiments identify...
The rise in wildfire frequency and severity across the globe has increased interest secondary succession. However, despite role of soil microbial communities controlling biogeochemical cycling their regeneration post-fire vegetation, lack measurements immediately at high temporal resolution limited understanding To fill this knowledge gap, we sampled soils 17, 25, 34, 67, 95, 131, 187, 286, 376 days after a southern California fire-adapted chaparral shrublands. We assessed bacterial fungal...
Summary Post‐dispersal seed predators contribute substantially to loss across many ecosystems. Most research has focused on understanding sources of variation in loss, without appreciating the implications predation for plant coexistence, community assembly and broader theory. Meanwhile, aimed at coexistence processes communities axes dispersal resource competition traits influencing these processes, accounting role generalist predators. We review unique features post‐dispersal assess three...
Abstract Modelling species interactions in diverse communities traditionally requires a prohibitively large number of species‐interaction coefficients, especially when considering environmental dependence parameters. We implemented Bayesian variable selection via sparsity‐inducing priors on non‐linear abundance models to determine which should be retained and can represented as an average heterospecific interaction term, reducing the model evaluated performance using simulated communities,...
Feedbacks between plants and soil biota are increasingly identified as key determinants of species abundance patterns within plant communities. However, our understanding how plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) may contribute to invasions is limited by shift in the light other ecological processes. Here we assess strength PSFs microbial communities change along a gradient nitrogen (N) availability these dynamics be further altered presence competitor. We conducted greenhouse experiment where grew...
Preventing invasion by exotic species is one of the key goals restoration, and community assembly theory provides testable predictions about native attributes that will best resist invasion. For instance, resource availability biotic interactions may represent “filters” limit success potential invaders. Communities are predicted to when they contain functionally similar invaders; where phenology be a functional trait. Nutrient reduction another common strategy for reducing following because...
Restoration ecology commonly seeks to re-establish species of interest in degraded habitats. Despite a rich understanding how succession influences re-establishment, there are several outstanding questions that remain unaddressed: short-term abundances sufficient determine long-term re-establishment success, and what factors contribute unpredictable restorations outcomes? In other words, when restoration fails, is it because the restored habitat substandard, strong competition with invasive...
Prescribed burns are often used as a management tool to decrease exotic plant cover and increase native in grasslands. These changes may also be mediated by fire impacts on soil microbial communities, which drive productivity function. Yet, the ecological effects of prescribed compared wildfires either or composition remain unclear. Grassland fires account for roughly 80 % global annual fires, but only 12 research belowground occurs grasslands, limiting our understanding aboveground...
Background For nearly all human fungal pathogens, the environmental constraints on their distributions remain poorly understood, hindering disease management. Here, we investigated role of zoonotic host presence, soil conditions, and interaction presence Coccidioides immitis, an emerging pathogen causative agent coccidioidomycosis. Methods A long-term experimental study initiated in 2007 Carrizo Plain National Monument, California excluded rodents from certain areas (20 by 20-meter...
Many terrestrial plant communities, especially forests, have been shown to lag in response rapid climate change. Grassland communities may respond more quickly novel climates, as they consist mostly of short-lived species, which are directly exposed macroclimate Here we report the grassland change California Floristic Province. We estimated 349 vascular species' climatic niches from 829,337 occurrence records, compiled 15 long-term community composition datasets 12 observational studies and...
Abstract Plant functional ecology research has primarily focused on juvenile and adult plants even though regeneration from seed can be the most consequential life‐history bottleneck with cascading influence later stages of growth reproduction. Understandings relationships among phenology, morphology growth‐related traits have improved our knowledge plant strategies adaptive responses to changing climate. However, whether phenological morpho‐physiological exist during is unknown. We also...
Abstract Invasive species have become a major threat to ecosystems across the globe, causing significant ecological and economic damage. To anticipate how communities may respond future invasions, it is crucial refine invader impacts are evaluated, especially in historically uninvaded highly variable systems such as arid lands. While abundance typically used predict impacts, not effectively capture dynamics that occur over time for established invaders experience cyclical (i.e., boom‐bust...
There is a growing consensus that the relative constraints of seed limitation and establishment in recruitment strongly influence abundance patterns plant communities. Although these have direct relevance to coexistence, most investigations utilize addition approach offers limited insight into dynamics. Here we report results an assembly experiment with annual species from California grasslands examine how propagule pool characteristics (dominant abundance, functional diversity) (density...
Abstract Questions How is natural regeneration of a patchy landscape affected by within‐patch species interactions and among‐patch dispersal after an extreme disturbance? Do processes facilitate the invasion native‐dominated patches exotic in adjacent patches? Location Irvine Ranch Natural Landmark, I rvine, C alifornia, USA . Methods We monitored plant community composition paired grassland that were initially dominated native or grasses at eight sites. followed recovery over time, starting...
Summary Managers are increasingly looking to apply concepts of resilience better anticipate and understand conservation restoration in a changing environment. In this study, we explore how information on demography (recruitment, growth survival) competitive effects different environments with starting species abundances can be used resilience. We use observational experimental data dynamics between native Stipa pulchra exotic Avena barbata fatua , grasses characteristic invaded grasslands...
Abstract Plant species can show considerable morphological and functional variation along environmental gradients. This intraspecific trait (ITV) have important consequences for community assembly, biotic interactions, ecosystem functions responses to global change. However, directly measuring ITV across many wide geographic areas is often infeasible. Thus, a method predict spatial in species’ traits could be valuable. We measured specific leaf area (SLA), height (LA) of grasses California,...
The use of unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) for vegetation monitoring is widespread in agriculture and forestry but far less so ecological restoration where it has tremendous unrealized potential. We tested the ability multispectral data a derived index to classify shrub, herbaceous vegetation, bare soil cover rare alluvial floodplain community semiarid Southern California, shrub manipulated efforts aimed provide open habitats required by several threatened endangered species. Three...
Restoration in dryland ecosystems often has poor success due to low and variable water availability, degraded soil conditions, slow plant community recovery rates. treatments can mitigate these constraints but, because subsequent monitoring are typically limited space time, our understanding of their applicability across broader environmental gradients remains limited. To address this limitation, we implemented monitored a standardized set seeding surface (pits, mulch, ConMod artificial...
Understanding processes that determine biodiversity is a fundamental challenge in ecology. At the landscape scale, physical alteration of ecosystems by organisms, called ecosystem engineering, enhances worldwide increasing heterogeneity resource conditions and enhancing species coexistence across engineered non‐engineered habitats. Engineering–diversity relationships can vary along environmental gradients due to changes amount structuring created but it unclear how this variation influenced...
Accompanying the climate crisis is more enigmatic biodiversity crisis. Rapid reorganization of due to global environmental change has defied prediction and tested basic tenets conservation restoration. Conceptual practical innovation needed support decision making in face these unprecedented shifts. Critical questions include: How can we generalize at community level? When are systems able reorganize maintain integrity, when does abiotic result collapse or restructuring? this understanding...