fire & soilsFire alters important soil processes, like nutrient cycling, water storage, and microbial activity. In the absence of fire, these processes may change drastically. I study how prescribed fire may be used to restore degraded pine barrens and optimize soil conditions to support native plant communities.
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forest carbon stocksNatural disturbances, such as grazing and fire, influence the quantity, quality, and location of ecosystem carbon stocks. When wildland fuels burn, C may be stabilized belowground in soils, or released to the atmosphere. Because belowground C storage can buffer climate change, I am interested in how prescribed fire alters the quantity and stability of ecosystem carbon stocks.
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PLANT SILICAPlants mobilize silicon from soil and deposit it in their leaves as abrasive, microscopic "phytoliths". Phytoliths are hypothesized to deter herbivores, but the adaptive pressures that led to greater variation in Si than any other leaf constituent remain unclear. For my dissertation, I studied the environmental drivers of grass Si variation. This work was completed at Wake Forest University with
Dr. Michael Anderson. |