I study how disturbances such as drought and fire interact to shape our forests, grasslands, and chaparral ecosystems, and how interactions between plant species drive community responses to disturbance.
Modeling species interactions in diverse communities
Modeling interactions between many species in diverse communities can be prohibited by the number of parameters required, especially if these interactions differ across environments. We developed a Bayesian sparse modeling approach to narrow parameters down, by grouping most interacting species together in a generic term and using the data to select just those species that…
Read more Modeling species interactions in diverse communities
Lagged effects of drought in California grasslands
Climate variability is a key challenge for range management, as forage can fluctuate widely with rainfall. At the same time, climate variation may promote coexistence of different forage species. Importantly, recent work suggests that previous-year rainfall is as important as current-year rainfall for rangeland dynamics. This study of lagged effects of precipitation on rangelands focuses…
Read more Lagged effects of drought in California grasslands
Post-fire regeneration on harsh soils is more resilient to climate change
Pre-fire drought decreases chaparral shrub regeneration on fertile soils, but not harsh serpentine soils.
Read more Post-fire regeneration on harsh soils is more resilient to climate change
Chhaya Werner 