Credit: Stephanie Ma
Members of the lab investigate the impact of drought on grassland structure and function and on restoration of former agricultural fields to grassland. We are using drought structures to create extreme drought conditions in grasslands and are evaluating the response of resident and seeded species, and their associated traits to manipulated changes in rainfall. We have also investigated the response of chaparral shrubs to severe drought and the interaction of drought and pathogens in influencing survival and performance of a dominant chaparral shrub. We are also experimentally evaluating importance of site factors including moisture in influencing restoration of an endemic conifer in the Los Padres National Forest.
