People : Projects : Places : Publications
1) Ecology of plant species invasion.
Invasive species are among the most important threats to biodiversity in ecosystems of eastern North America. We have developed a number of research projects that seek to deepen understanding of invasive plant ecology by focusing on Lonicera maackii in the Ohio Valley as a model system.
These projects aim to address the following general questions:
1) What are the features that enable species to become invasive?
2) What impacts do invasive species have on ecosystem processes such as nitrogen mineralization and leaf litter decomposition?
3) What are impacts of L. maackii, and other invasive plants, on riparian forest functions and aquatic biodiversity?
2) Disturbance, plant community dynamics, and ecosystem restoration.
In many forest ecosystems, species composition and community dynamics are linked to landscape disturbance processes. This area of our research program seeks to further understanding of the relationship between disturbance and ecosystem dynamics.
For instance, we have attempted to elucidate the disturbance ecology of American chestnut (Castanea dentata). We have also employed a biogeographic approach using tree-ring analysis of samples from across the southeastern Ohio and eastern Kentucky to establish reference conditions for restoration of fire in oak forests. In another project, we used tree-ring analysis to document the relationship between anthropogenic disturbances and the formation of oak savanna in central Kentucky.
Research in the lab is increasingly interested in using historical disturbance as an approach for developing restoration treatments in degraded ecosystems. Experiments that seek to restore ecosystem structure and function are ongoing in several locals.
3) Long-term deciduous forest dynamics.
A primary need in plant ecology is to understand long-term trends in species dominance and composition. The lab has engaged in a number of projects that seek to understand these trends. Most important of these has been a long-term analysis of dynamics within Lilley Cornett Woods, an old-growth forest in southeastern Kentucky. We have worked on flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) population dynamics, environmental drivers of community structure, and floristic composition of the forest. We recently published a manuscript on dynamics in species composition over the last 20 years in this old-growth forest.
Our work on these questions continues as Dr. Neil Pederson and I are developing a number of projects that seek to address long-term forest dynamics.