The Lab of Conservation Ecology is a multi-faculty lab, united around the theme of conservation of Southwestern landscapes in an era of global change. To enhance diversity and resilience of these unique dryland ecosystems, we work across a variety of disciplines and ecological scales, ranging from population-level demographic and genetic analyses of rare plants to landscape-level investigations of fire resilience and adaptation. Below, we showcase several representative projects that illustrate our multidisciplinary approach to conservation science.

CURRENT FOCUS AREAS

COUPLED HUMAN-NATURAL SYSTEMS

• Social and ecological fragmentation along jurisdictional boundaries
• Emory Oak Collaborative Tribal Restoration Initiative (EOCTRI)
• Tribal Nations Botanical Research Collaborative

RARE PLANT CONSERVATION

• Demographics of Pectis imberbis
• Pollination, germination, and recruitment barriers for Amsonia kearneyana
• Drivers and consequences of low pollination rates for Pediocactus peeblesianus var. fickeisenae

DRYLAND RESTORATION AND ADAPTATION

• Factors influencing the production of native forb seed to inform commercial production
• The influence of source population on growth and pollination of native forbs for restoration planning
• Cuenca Los Ojos monitoring program: evaluating restoration success and informing conservation management
• Climate adaptation strategies for the arid grasslands of the Colorado Plateau
• Rapid plot monitoring of landscape-scale forest restoration within the four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) project footprint in Northern Arizona

FIRE RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION

• Social and ecological drivers of fire resilience in the Sonoran Desert.
• Southwest FireCLIME

SUSTAINABLE RANGELAND MANAGEMENT

• Long-term vegetative response to different grazing regimes
• Environmental data collection and monitoring in support of rangeland collaborative planning