Our group investigates the ecological impacts of climate variability and climate change on ecosystems in the US desert southwest, tallgrass prairie in Kansas, and savanna grasslands in South Africa.

Bison rule

The reintroduction of bison at the Konza Prairie Biological station has resulted in a steady increase in native plant species richness, and this increase was resilient to an extreme drought. Cattle grazing also increased diversity, but not as much as bison and the grasslands were less resistant to drought. Here's the significance statement from the paper (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210433119):

Long-term nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization has variable effects on soil carbon sequestration in temperate grasslands

A really nice study in Global Change Biology led by Adrienne Keller on soil SOC response to 10-years of N fertilization in a subset of NutNet plots across the US. From the abstract:

Sonoran desert winter annuals respond to nitrogen addition and rainfall variability in preserves around Phoenix

Check out our recent paper in Ecological Monographs on Sonoran Desert annual plant communities. Here's the abstract:

Syndicate content