Current and Recent Projects

Elucidating Plant and Mycorrhizal Fungal Relationships and Consequences across Space and Time

Adopting a trait-based, scale dependent approach for plants and mycorrhizal fungi, this NSF funded project aims to develop within and across guild generalizations of plant-fungal symbiosis across scalesand create novel continental maps of mycorrhizal fungi. This project’s overarching goal is determining the underlying mechanisms that shape plant-mycorrhizal fungal patterns in U.S. forests and evaluating the impacts of these associations on ecosystem functioning. We hypothesizes that plant and mycorrhizal fungal diversity are key determinants of ecosystem functioning, yet the relationships between trees and fungi (and their associated drivers) vary for different mycorrhizal types, as well as across spatial and temporal scales.

Modling Invasion Dynamics across Scales (MIDAS)

This NSF funded project seeks to understand how the underlying biological, geophysical and socioeconomic factors lead to the emergence of large scale invasion patterns. Our overarching hypothesis is that macroscale invasion patterns are the result of complex, non-linear, and cross-scale interactions among invader, recipient system, and invasion drivers. Our short-term goal is to determine the underlying mechanisms contributing to macroscale invasion patterns for two important taxa of invaders (plants and insect pests) in forests across the continental United States, by using our trait-based, scale-dependent theoretical framework.

Land Use and Landscape Analysis for Forest and Agricultural Sustainability and Resilience

This USDA funded project aims to educate outstanding workforce in land use and landscape analysis (LULA), which is a key component in forest and agricultural sustainability and resilience. Major topics in this project includes: forest ecosystem resilience, impact of land use on invasive species, sustainable water resources, sustainable agriculture and biofuel production, and socio-economic behavior and policy development.