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AS PLANT ECOLOGISTS, WE ARE INTERESTED in the broad topic of how plants interact with other plants, with animals, and with the physical environment around them. We also strive to understand how these interactions affect ecological processes at multiple scales. Our efforts are evenly divided between terrestrial and wetland ecosystems, including linkages between them.
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| Research Highlights |
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 Eric Hazelton, Ph.D. student at Utah State University, joined the Lab as part of the five-year, $5 million NOAA grant. Eric's focus on this project is the impact of Phragmites australis, an invasive species that threatens the sensitive coastal habitats in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. His project will include the impact of Phragmites removal on native vegetation and how land use patterns affect the likelihood for restoration success.
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.JPG) Yini Ma is a Ph.D. student in the Earth and Atmospheric Department at Purdue University. Her research focuses on the impact of disturbance on soil organic matter dynamics in deciduous forests, including the influences of past land use history and invasive earthworms. Yini is a recent recipient of a CIC Fellowship, awarded by the groundbreaking partnership between the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and the Smithsonian Institution that supports research in residence at Smithsonian facilities. |
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 Liza McFarland, recent graduate of Tufts University, will continue in the Plant Lab throughout the 2012 field season. Liza originally joined the lab as a student intern- part of a team that investigated the effectiveness of conservation measures for wetlands in agricultural landscapes throughout the mid-Atlantic region. This summer Liza will be working on our Isotria and NAOOC projects and spending time in Phragmites wetlands as part of the NOAA grant. She plans to continue her interest in wetlands next spring as she pursues graduate studies with Andy Baldwin, a mentor on her intern project.
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Small Whorled--Big Mission
The Lab has joined forces with the National Park Service and the US Military to evaluate a range of ecological characteristics of Isotria medeoloides (small whorled pogonia) to develop techniques to be used to manage and reintroduce this federally threatened orchid. details
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ALIEN ALERT!!! update
Will this Asian invasive earthworm threaten SERC's forest?
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Tidal Freshwater Wetlands-edited by Dennis and colleagues Aat Barendregt and Andy Baldwin.
Tidal freshwater wetlands occur in the upper part of estuaries, where fresh water from the river is influenced by tides. A number of characteristic plant and animal species occur in tidal freshwater wetlands, reflecting their unique biological, chemical, and physical processes.
overview
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Recent Papers
Whigham, D.F., C.M. Walker, R.S. King, S.J. Baird. 2012. Multiple scales of influence on wetland vegetation associated with headwater streams in Alaska, USA.
Wetlands published online 09 February 2012. doi:10.1007/s13157-012-0274-z. pdf request
Dekar, M.P., R.S. King, J.A. Back, D.F. Whigham, C.M. Walker. 2012. Allochthonous inputs from grass-dominated wetlands support juvenile salmonids in headwater streams: evidence from stable isotopes of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen.
Freshwater Science 31(1):121-132. pdf request
McCormick, M.K., D.L. Taylor, K. Juhaszova, R.K. Burnett Jr., D.F. Whigham and J.P. O’Neill. 2012. Limitations on orchid recruitment: not a simple picture.
Molecular Ecology 21:1511–1523. pdf request
Innis, A.F., I.N. Forseth, D.F. Whigham and M.K. McCormick. 2011. Genetic diversity in the invasive Rubus phoenicolasius as compared to the native Rubus argutus using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. Biological Invasions 13(8):1735-1738. pdf request
Kettenring, K.M., M.K. McCormick, H.M. Baron, and D.F. Whigham. 2011. Mechanisms of Phragmites australis invasion: feedbacks among genetic diversity, nutrients, and sexual reproduction. Journal of Applied Ecology 48:1305–1313. pdf request
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