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Welcome
Check out the new:
VIDEO ON SALMON-LEAF DECOMP PROJECT
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We are an ecology
laboratory at The Evergreen State College.
Our
larger mission is to promote and support engagement in ecological science at
all levels of training. The lab's current work is divided between riparian cottonwood
forests in the intermountain West (US), ongoing research with local prairie restoration efforts, temperate rain-forest
ecology in western Washington,
and above-belowground relationships in Ponderosa pine forests in the eastern
Cascades. We
are especially excited about our ongoing work examining genetic effects on
ecosystems using Cottonwood forests as a model ecosystems. Our recent work
in this area has suggested tree genetics can have tremendous ecosystem-level
effects on forests and streams. In collaboration with state and local
governments we have helped establish restoration plantings that address
related scientific questions from western Washington (Nisqually River) to
southern Arizona (the Colorado River). See below for more information about
our work!
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People (current) |
Alumni |
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Dylan Fischer
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Christopher "Digger"
Anthony |
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Carri
LeRoy
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Callie Meredith |
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Alex
Kazakova
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Nick Smith |
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Justin
Kirsch
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Matt Crabtree |
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Tom Otto
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Duke Brady |
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Emily
Anderson
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Megan Liebmann |
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Erik Rook
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Kim McNett |
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Carl Elliott
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Pat Babbin
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Walton Andrews |
Brett Ivey |
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Jora
Rehm-Lorber (MES) |
Jaclyn Carpenter
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Blake Westman
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Whitney Kitchner |
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Welles Bretherton
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Margaret Pryor
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Natalie Pyrooz (MES) |
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Mara Denny
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Kate Halstead
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Zac Miller
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Lindsy Wright (MES) |
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Greg Falxa |
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Mikkel Bjornson
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Undergraduate Student
Posters/Presentations!
2008 South
Sound Science Symposium (S4)
Kazakova, AN, JL
Kirsch, and DG Fischer. 2008.
Carbon Storage and Productivity Estimates in a Second-Growth Forest
2007 Ecological Society of America Meetings in San Jose California:
Bretherton, W, CJ LeRoy, and
DG Fischer.
2007. Interactions between salmon carcasses, leaf litter diversity, leaf
decomposition and macro-invertebrate diversity.
Halstead KE, Pritchard, KR,
and D Fischer.
2007. The Effects of Environmental Stress on
Diversity, Water-Use Efficiency and Leaf Morphology of Native Quercus
Species in the Chiricahua Mountains
Smith, N, McNett, K,
Crabtree, M, Brady, G, Liebmann, M,
and D Fischer.
2007. Variance in the Algal Layer Ratios of Parmelia sulacta: Canopy
Height, Tree Species, and N Deposition Effects.
Undergraduate
Student publications in prep
LeRoy, C.J., K.
Halstead, D.G. Fischer. 2007. Leaf endophyte (Rhytisma
punctatum) decelerates big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum)
decomposition in streams.
In prep -
Oecologia
Bretherton, W.,
and C.J. LeRoy. 2007. Interactions
between Salmon carcass additions and leaf litter diversity.
In prep for Ecology.
Denny, M., and C.J. LeRoy. 2008.
Genetic-based interactions between Salmon carcasses and three species leaf
litter decomposition in the Elwha River. In Prep - Hydrobiologia.
Rook,
E., Seyferth, R, Otto, T., Smith,
N, Babbin, Miller, Z, P, Ivey, B, and Fischer, D. 2008. Does fire result
in increased diversity due to invasive species in a small restored Northwest
Prairie? In prep - Restoration Ecology.
Babbin, P., Z.
Miller, , J. Erickson, B. Marcus, D. Fischer, and T.
Whitham. 2007. Ecotype Mortality in Southwestern
Cottonwood
Forest Restoration.
In prep for Restoration Ecology.
Kazakova, A., and Kirsch,
J.Variability in above-ground primary productivity and diversity in a
lowland Puget Sound forest, Researchers:
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CURRENT STUDENT PROJECTS IN THE LAB:
Stand
structure effects on understory community composition and diversity in a
lowland Puget Sound forest
We measured
understory vegetation in 44 10-m radius forest plots during the summer of
2008 in the Evergreen Ecological Observation Network (EEON). Our data show
that understory community composition changes in relation to the overstory
community. This study provides an estimate of how understory
plant community biodiversity relates to second-growth forest structure and
composition.
Pacific
Salmon Carcasses: Mediation of Cottonwood Leaf-litter Decomposition and
Diversity in Aquatic Ecosystems. Pacific
salmon drive many ecosystem processes and interactions in Pacific Northwest
streams. Leaves which have fallen into streams also contribute important
energy and nutrients to these aquatic ecosystems. This study is the first to
examine the interactive effects of salmon carcasses on leaf-litter
decomposition of genetically diverse mixtures of leaves and will contribute
to a growing body of genes-to-ecosystem research.
Seed
ecology of three south Puget Sound prairie lupines,
The seeds of
three lupine species native to south Puget Sound prairies were submitted to
four treatments simulating natural conditions: wildfire, summer drought,
winter chilling and fluctuations in spring temperatures. All three species
responded to the treatments differently. These results will allow land
managers enhance germination success in restoration efforts, in particular
fire treatments and seed augmentation.
Variability in above-ground primary productivity and diversity in a lowland
Puget Sound forest.
We measured
above ground carbon uptake across the EEON. We used these data to 1) examine
the hypothesis that tree diversity and productivity are positively related,
2) examine variability in patterns of carbon gain in a second growth forest,
and 3) to contribute to carbon budget estimations for the Evergreen campus.
These data could inform other temperate forest studies examining long-term
carbon flux.
Effects
of Fire and Invasive Species Legacy on Plant Communities in a Northwest
Prairie.
This study
evaluates South Sound prairie restoration treatments and the legacy effects
of a N-fixing invasive species. We measured 80 1-m2 plots across
three restoration treatments representing a control, a 2002 burn treatment
and a 2006 burn treatment. We compared plant community structure,
composition, and diversity among burn treatments and evaluated legacy
effects of the N-fixing shrub scotch broom (Cytisis scoparious) using
historic photos. We found that both burning and C. scoparious
influence plant communities and invasive species.
Above-Belowground Spatial
Relationships in pre-restoration Ponderosa Pine Forests.
In fire-dependent
Ponderosa pine forests of the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area, many changes to
forest structure have occurred over the last century as a result of fire
exclusion. We measured 60, 0.02-ha plots to determine 1) the relationship
between understory species diversity and stand structural attributes, and 2)
the correlation between live above-ground biomass and the spatial
distribution of roots.
Other Active
research
(2006-2009):
Anadromous salmon effects on leaf decomposition in streams and
forests
Measurement
of Carbon pools, fluxes, and forest structure in permanent ecosystem
monitoring plots (lowland Puget Sound forests - EEON, Weber river UT, Sinlahekin
Valley, North-Central Washington)
Effects of
genetic variation in plants on leaf litter decomposition
Genetic, Environment, and GxE variation
on cottonwood above and belowground physiology and C allocation in P.
trichocarpa
Effects
of course and fine scale plant litter diversity on stream biodiversity
Puget Sound Prairie Fire and Invasive shrub effects on Plant Species Diversity
Genetic
effects of a foundational species on ecosystem carbon and water balance.
Genetic
effects on seasonality of root production, turnover, spatial aggregation, and fractal dimension
of in cottonwood forests.
Ponderosa
pine above-ground-to-belowground mass relationships in spatially explicit
framework
Responses
of aboveground structure and plant community composition to fire
reintroduction in Ponderosa pine forests
Trends
in global decomposition of leaf litter
Intraspecific variation in leaf-atmosphere interactions
Patterns in
mortality among riparian restoration out-plantings (Babbin and Miller et al. in
collaboration with Whitham lab, NAU, and BOR)
Bird
community-Gall community relationships in a P. tremuloides forest in
North Central Washington (Sinlahekin Valley)
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LAB
PUBLICATIONS
(* denotes undergraduate author)
Bailey, J.K., J.A.
Schweitzer, J. Koricheva, M.D. Madritch, C.J. LeRoy, B.J.
Rehill, R.K. Bangert, D.G. Fischer, G. Allen, and Thomas G. Whitham.
From Genes to Ecosystems: Synthesizing
the Effects of Plant Genetic Factors Across Systems. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society B
364: 1607-1616
Whitham, T.G., C.A. Gehring, L.M. Evans, C.J. LeRoy,
R.K. Bangert, J.A. Schweitzer, G.J.
Allan, R.C. Barbour, D.G. Fischer, B.M. Potts and J.K. Bailey.
2009. A Community and Ecosystem Genetics Approach to Conservation Biology
and Management. In Molecular Approaches in Natural Resource Conservation.
Cambridge University Press (in
press).
Fischer and Kazakova*.
2008. Book Review:
Measuring Carbon Uptake in Forests and Farms .
Environmental Practice.
Muehlbauer * J.D., LeRoy C.J., Lovett J.M., Flaccus K.K., Vlieg J.K. & Marks
J.C.
2008
Short-term responses of decomposers to flow restoration in Fossil Creek,
Arizona, USA.Hydrobiologia
in press, online first pdf
Schweitzer, J.A., M. D. Madritch, J. K. Bailey, C.J.
LeRoy, D.G. Fischer, B.J. Rehill, R.L. Lindroth, T.G. Whitham.
Review - Ecological impacts of foliar
condensed tannins: a genes-to-ecosystem approach. Ecosystems (in
press)
Schweitzer, JA, JK Bailey, DG Fischer, CJ LeRoy, EV
Lonsdorf, TG Whitham and SC Hart. 2008.
Soil Microorganism-Plant Interactions; Heritable
relationship between plant genotype and associated microorgansims.. Ecology.
89: 773–781
Bangert, RK, EV Lonsdorf, GM Wimp, , S M Shuster, DG
Fischer, JA Schweitzer, GJ Allan, JK Bailey, TG Whitham. 2008.
Genetic structure of a foundation species: scaling community phenotypes from
the individual to the region. Heredity. 18 October 2006
LeRoy, C.J., T.G. Whitham,
and J.C. Marks. 2007. Within-species variation in litter chemistry
influences aquatic leaf litter decomposition. Journal of the North
American Benthological Society (in press).
Fischer, DG, SC Hart, CJ LeRoy and TG Whitham. 2007
Variation in Belowground Carbon Fluxes along a Populus Hybridization Gradient. New Phytologist. 176: 415–425
Kovacs, Z.I., C.J. LeRoy, D.G. Fischer, S. Lubarsky, and W.Burke. 2007
How do aesthetics affect our ecology? Journal of Ecological Anthropology.
10:61-65
Fischer, D.G., S.C. Hart, B.J. Rehill, R.L. Lindroth, P. Keim and T.G.
Whitham. 2006.
Do high-tannin leaves require more roots? Oecologia
149:668–675
LeRoy, C.J.,
T.G. Whitham, P. Keim, and J.C. Marks.
2006. Plant genes link forests and streams. Ecology 87(1): 255-261.
pdf
LeRoy, C.J.,
and J.C. Marks.
2006. Litter quality, stream condition, and
litter diversity influence decomposition rates and macroinvertebrate
communities. Freshwater Biology 51: 605-617.
pdf
Whitham TG, Bailey JK, Schweitzer JA, LeRoy CJ, Fischer,
DG, Lonsdorf E, Shuster SM, Lindroth
RL, Hart SC, Allan GJ, Gehring CA, Keim P, Potts BM, and Woolbright
S. 2006. From Genes to Ecosystems: How Genes Structure Communities and
Affect Ecosystem Processes. Nature: Genetics. 7:510-523
G. Cox*, D.G. Fischer,
S.C. Hart, and T.G. Whitham. 2005.
Nonresponse of native cottonwood trees to water
additions during summer drought. Western North American Naturalist.
65: 175-185
Whitham TG, Lonsdorf E, Schweitzer JA, Bailey JK, Fischer, DG,
Shuster SM, Lindroth RL, Hart SC, Allan GJ, Gehring CA, Keim P, Potts BM,
Marks, J, Rehill BJ, DiFazio
SP, LeRoy CJ, Wimp GM, and S. Woolbright
2005.
“All effects of a gene on the world”: Extended phenotypes,
feedbacks, and multi-level selection. Écoscience
12: 5-7.
Fischer, D.G., S.C. Hart, T.G.
Whitham, G.D. Martinsen and P. Keim.
2004. Ecosystem implications of genetic variation in water-use of a
dominant riparian tree. Oecologia 139:188-197.
Flaccus, K., J. Vlieg, J.C. Marks and C.J. LeRoy.
2004. Restoring Fossil Creek. The Science Teacher 71(6):36-40.
Whitham, T.G., W.P.
Young, G.D. Martinsen, C.A. Gehring,
J.A. Schweitzer, S.M. Shuster, G.M. Wimp, D.G. Fischer, J.K. Bailey,
R.L. Lindroth, S. Woolbright,
and C.R. Kuske. 2003. Community and
ecosystem genetics: a consequence of the extended phenotype. Ecology
84: 559-573
Fischer, D.G., T.E. Kolb, and L.E. Dewald. 2002. Changes in whole-tree water
relations during ontogeny of Pinus flexilis and Pinus
ponderosa in a high-elevation meadow. Tree Physiology. 22:675-685.
LeRoy, C., S. Determann, T.
Wallace, M. Blake and T. Salem. 2000. Hanley Hall renovation project.
Proceedings of the Air and Waste Management Association Meeting, Salt
Lake City, UT.
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