Current Projects
Environmental change in the Klamath-Siskiyou region, 1949-present (Harrison): With Ellen Damschen of University of Wisconsin, Madison I am currently resampling the vegetation transects that Robert Whittaker studied in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon in 1949-51. Our goals are to look for evidence of climate change and to determine whether serpentine vegetation has undergone different changes than 'normal' vegetation on diorite soils. More ...
Climate, competition, and soil type: interactions controlling the success of endemic plants (Going): Plant species that are specialized to particular substrates, such as serpentine endemics, are major contributors to local, regional, and global biodiversity. Serpentine plant endemics are species with more than 85% of their known occurrence on serpentine soil, an abiotically harsh soil that is low in nutrients (N, P, K, Ca), high in heavy metals (Mg, Ni, Fe) and has a low water holding capacity. More ...
Phylogenetic community structure across environmental stress gradients
(Anacker): It has long been appreciated that the origin and maintenance of natural communities depends in part on the evolutionary history of their members. However, only recently has it become possible to incorporate a rigorous evolutionary perspective into ecological analyses of entire communities. More ...
Effects of climate change on serpentine endemic plants (Harrison, Going)
Phylogenetic community structure across environmental stress gradients (Anacker)