Unbeknownst to many, the Pacific Northwest used to contain ~ 180,000 acres of prairie. Most of these areas have been lost due to tree encroachment and development. We are working with the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service to develop ways of restoring diverse prairie vegetation. Doing so will also improve habitat for a number of endangered species in the Northwest.

I am also collaborating with Janneke Hille Ris Lambers (UW Biology) and others in a coordinated global research network (NutNet - The Nutrient Network) investigating the effects of resources and herbivory on ecosystem processes in grasslands.

Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) is the only oak native to the Pacific Northwest, where it occurs on both sides of the Cascades and in a range of ecosystems. Oak savannas have significant conservation value but are at risk from urban development and encroachment by Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). In collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, we are working to characterize current stand conditions, establish oak seedlings in an old agricultural field, and evaluate the effects of silvicultural release treatments that remove Douglas-fir ingrowth while preserving large, old oaks and Douglas-firs.

Long-term datasets are invaluable and under-utilized. Often, people do not even know of their existence or value! In collaboration with colleagues from Northern Arizona University, I am using a rare dataset (1909-present) to examine vegetation dynamics in southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests. These forests have undergone dramatic changes in the last century, but data quantifying these changes are rare. Understanding vegetation dynamics over the last century will also improve our ability to predict dynamics into the future.

Conventional parametric statistics are applicable in many situations, but are often poorly suited to community ecology.  I am exploring techniques that are more appropriate for the types of data gathered in such studies.  These techniques include:

• Indicator Species Analysis
• Permutational MANOVA
• Bayesian statistics