Global change in grasslands

PHACE experimental set-up outside of Cheyenne, WY

PHACE experimental set-up outside of Cheyenne, WY

The PHACE project was a large collaborative effort between the University of Wyoming, USDA ARS in Fort Collins, and Colorado State University to quantify how a semi-arid grassland in northeastern Wyoming are responding to a combination of global change factors. My work focused on how plant community structure and function respond to climate change and linking those responses to biogeochemical processes.

Final plant biomass harvest in July 2013 at the PHACE site, High Plains Grassland, USDA - with David Augustine, a USDA ARS researcher and collaborator on the PHACE project.

Final plant biomass harvest in July 2013 at the PHACE site, High Plains Grassland, USDA - with David Augustine, a USDA ARS researcher and collaborator on the PHACE project.

The research group at the PHACE site during the final plant biomass harvest, July 2013

The research group at the PHACE site during the final plant biomass harvest, July 2013

Eco-evolutionary impacts of climate change on cheatgrass

USGS Global Change Experiment, Castle Valley, Utah

USGS Global Change Experiment, Castle Valley, Utah

Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) has successfully invaded plant communities across the western U.S., across a range of climatic conditions and ecosystems, including cold desert shrublands. The success of this invader may be the result of its phenotypic plasticity and adaptive genetic variation. We are interested in assessing the potential of eco-evolutionary B. tectorum responses to climate change and how these eco-evolutionary responses shape future B. tectorum distributions.