NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2012

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How can spatial heterogeneity buffer plant communities against climate change?Spatial heterogeneity in the physical environment plays a critical role in driving many ecological patterns and processes and has recently been implicated as an important factor responsible for buffering some communities against climate change. However, the specific mechanism by which spatial heterogeneity confers temporal stability remains unclear. Here, field experiments and empirical models will be used to test two classes of mechanisms for how spatial heterogeneity might buffer communities against climate change. Some buffering mechanisms may operate independently of species interactions, such as when heterogeneity provides physical refugia for species. Alternatively, in communities structured by competitive interactions, spatial heterogeneity might buffer communities via a class of mechanism involving species coexistence mechanisms. This project will test the relative importance of these mechanisms using field experiments in annual serpentine grasslands and simulation models parameterized with data collected from the experiments. This NSF fellowship will support postdoctoral training in research and teaching. Professional training will include extensive analyses using modern statistical programs, such as R, and current modeling approaches. In addition to participating in teaching seminars and course to improve pedagogical skills, the Fellow will teach core courses and serve as a mentor to undergraduate and graduate students at the host institution, Utah State University. Another promising avenue for community outreach is through participation in Distributed Graduate Seminars on climate change in the sagebrush steppe plant community. Finally, the Fellow will continue to provide logistical and long-term planning support to the K-12 science education program, Kids into Discovering Science (KiDS).