Fire Impacts on Species Richness
After spending nearly six years at Oklahoma State University, Assistant Professor Monica Papeş has traded the Cross-Timbers and Great Plains ecoregions for the Appalachians and Blue Ridge ecoregions by joining EEB in January 2017. Consequently, her regional research focus has shifted to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where Papeş and her master’s student Mali Lubic are beginning to investigate the effects of the 2016 fires on understory plant communities.
The US Forest Service classified the fire intensity from Landsat satellite imagery into three categories: low, medium, and high. High-intensity fires are more likely to occur after extended periods of fire suppression, which is the case in the national park. This study will compare plant species richness and abundance on sites selected across regions of low, medium and high fire intensity to unburned reference sites. The main objective is to determine whether significant differences exist in plant community changes across the fire gradient as these communities recover from the fire. This work is part of a larger EEB initiative to investigate the effects of the 2016 fire on organisms and ecosystems in the park.
On a much broader scale, Papeş is investigating the use of satellite imagery to map tropical forest diversity. This project makes use of data collected by a NASA experimental sensor, Hyperion. This is the only satellite sensor that records the amount of light reflected off the surface of Earth in hundreds of narrow spectral bands. This type of data allows identification of tree species and measuring vegetation diversity from space. The goal of this project is to identify areas of high species richness that could be targeted for conservation.
Moving to UT has been a remarkable career advancement for Papeş. Through a partnership between EEB, geography, and NIMBioS, Papeş has the unique opportunity to establish and direct a shared facility centered on spatial analysis: Spatial Analysis Lab (SAL). Spatial analysis makes use of geo-referenced data to visualize and study processes (for example, species’ geographic ranges; the spread of a disease; optimal size of a protected area). The SAL will be open to all UT faculty and students and will be fully operational by the end of 2018.
Papeş’ research interests focus on understanding species’ distributions from local to continental scales. This fundamental question has applications in diverse fields, such as biogeography, biodiversity conservation, and global change. EEB faculty are a dynamic and diverse group that excel in these fields.
“We are extremely grateful for the support of Dean Lee and the college, which helped provide the needed resources to transform our greenhouses at Hesler and Senter Halls into Research I facilities,” says Susan Kalisz, EEB department head.
“Our greenhouse complex now provides the winning combination of the plant growth expertise in our knowledgeable staff; excellent, controlled research facilities; and terrific teaching resources in a living collection,” Kalisz says.
Rats. Fish. Mud. Though not readily apparent, water is the thread that ties all three together.
Increasing demand for food, energy, and raw materials is driving rapid environmental change with profound impacts on biodiversity around the world. Xingli Giam, a new assistant professor in EEB, focuses on characterizing and mitigating anthropogenic impacts on the environment with a particular emphasis on tropical and freshwater ecosystems.
Alannie-Grace Grant is modeling the climatic differences between closely related self-fertilizing and cross-fertilizing angiosperm plants. Her results show that self-fertilizing species live in a wider range of climatic zones and in warmer, drier regions than cross-fertilizing species. She hypothesizes that the reduced size of self-fertilizing species and potential for faster development rates may strongly affect photosynthetic water use efficiency (an indicator of physiological stress) or the species’ ability to reproduce before dry late-season conditions. Using the genus Collinsia as a model system, the NSF DDIG award will provide funds to perform experiments on self-fertilizing and cross-fertilizing plants in different climatic conditions.
Sam Borstein is studying how dietary specialization may affect evolutionary patterns using ray-finned fishes as a study system. Ray-finned fishes are extremely diverse in their feeding habits and prey on a wide variety of resources, including filtering plankton from the water, foraging for algae, and actively hunting other fish. How effectively the fish feed is closely connected to their physical anatomy, especially how well the fish can maneuver and capture prey. Some physical traits are thought to lead to increased speciation or decreased extinction rates (known as key innovations), but may limit possible flexibility in diet evolution.
When Thomas Brooks (’98) graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in geography, he wanted to focus his PhD work on tropical conservation. There was one problem – no one in the United Kingdom was interested in taking him on as a student.
Chandler Brown, an undergraduate working in the Williams Lab, entered his first plants-focused class already intrigued by the evolution of these beautiful organisms. He came to college for this class. With the acquaintance of Professor Joe Williams, his foot was in the door.