Research Summary:
My students and I are currently pursuing a variety of questions in several areas of plant population biology and plant ecology. These areas include (1) the dynamics and regulation of plant populations; (2) competitive and facilitative interactions between plants and their consequences for community structure and for species distributions across their landscape; (3) the effects of herbivory and of fire on plant population dynamics, plant-plant interactions, community structure, and landscape-scale distributions. We address these topics using a variety of plant species (grasses, forbs, woody plants) and communities, including central Texas savannas and woodlands. Field, greenhouse, and garden experiments, descriptive field studies, and theoretical models are among the techniques we have used. A number of our current projects have conservation applications, including the preservation of an endangered annual forb and the management of woodland preserves. Please see our research webpages for more information.