Ellen Damschen Homepage

Dr. Lars Brudvig

USDA Forest Service-Savannah River

1 mile inside Aiken Barricade

Building 760-15G

ATTN: Lars Brudvig

New Ellenton, SC 29809

E-mail: brudvig@biology2.wustl.edu

Phone: (803) 725-1758

Fax: (803) 725-0311

Click here for my CV

I’m a postdoc in Ellen Damschen’s lab at Washington University. My general research interests are in restoration ecology of plant communities, ranging from local scales to landscapes. Much of my work has focused on using restoration as a means for large-scale experimentation to investigate spatial processes and consequences for management. I enjoy working at the interface between science and management and collaborate with several government and private land management agencies.

At Washington University, I work with the Corridor Research Group at Savannah River Site, SC (http://www.conservationcorridor.org/). This university/U.S. Forest Service collaboration represents represents one of the largest and best replicated habitat fragmentation experiments in the world and the largest experimental study of habitat corridors. Presently, we are studying the influences of habitat edges and corridors on population dynamics of longleaf pine savanna understory plants. Using experimental and observational approaches, we seek to translate findings from our experimental landscapes to the scale of operational forestry at the 80,000 ha Savannah River Site.

Before coming to Washington University, I did my Ph.D. work with Midwestern oak savannas, at Iowa State University. This was part of a large-scale and long-term restoration experiment in central Iowa. My dissertation work encompassed the first stage of restoration: mechanical removal of encroaching woody plants. This had important impacts on regeneration dynamics of savanna and encroaching overstory trees, patterns of understory biodiversity, and re-establishment of biophysical gradients. We’ve now moved into the second stage of restoration with a prescribed burning and seed addition experiment starting in Fall 2007.

Publications (click [pdf] for reprints)

In press Brudvig, L.A. Woody encroachment removal from Midwestern oak savannas alters understory diversity across space and time. Restoration Ecology. [pdf]

In press. Brudvig, L.A. and H. Asbjornsen. The removal of woody encroachment restores biophysical gradients in Midwestern oak savannas. Journal of Applied Ecology.

In press. Damschen, E.I., L.A. Brudvig, N.M. Haddad, D.J. Levey, J.L. Orrock, and J.J. Tewskbury (contributions equal after first author). The movement ecology and dynamics of plant communities in fragmented landscapes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

2008 Brudvig, L.A. Large scale experimentation and oak regeneration. Forest Ecology and Management 255:3017-3018. Editor’s Introduction to Special Issue; Featured on journal cover. [pdf]

2008 Brudvig, L.A. and H. Asbjornsen. Patterns of oak regeneration in a Midwestern savanna restoration experiment. Forest Ecology and Management 255:3019-3025. [pdf]

2008 Brudvig, L.A. and C.M. Mabry. Trait-based filtering of the regional species pool to guide understory plant reintroductions in Midwestern oak savannas, USA. Restoration Ecology 16:290-304. [pdf]

2007 Asbjornsen, H., M.D. Tomer, M. Gomez-Cardenas, L.A. Brudvig, C.M. Greenan, and K. Schilling. Tree transpiration in a Midwestern bur oak savanna after elm encroachment and restoration thinning. Forest Ecology and Management. [pdf]

2007 Brudvig, L.A. and H. Asbjornsen. Stand structure, composition and regeneration dynamics following removal of encroaching woody vegetation from Midwestern oak savannas. Forest Ecology and Management 244(1-3):112-121. [pdf]

2007 Brudvig, L.A. , C.M. Mabry, J.R. Miller, and T.A. Walker. Evaluation of central North American prairie management based on species diversity, life-form, and individual species metrics. Conservation Biology 21(3):864-874. [pdf]

2007 Asbjornsen, H., L.A. Brudvig , and M.D. Tomer. Ecohydrological implications of removing encroaching woody vegetation from a Midwestern bur oak savanna. Ecological Restoration 25(1).

2006 Brudvig, L.A. and C.W. Evans. Competitive interactions between Quercus alba seedlings and native and exotic shrubs. Northeastern Naturalist 13(2):259-268. [pdf]

2005 Asbjornsen, H., L.A. Brudvig , C.M. Mabry, C.W. Evans, and H.M. Karnitz. Defining reference information for restoring ecologically rare tallgrass oak savannas in the Midwestern United States. Journal of Forestry 103(7):345-350. [pdf]

2005 Brudvig, L.A. and H. Asbjornsen. Oak regeneration before and after initial restoration efforts in a tallgrass oak savanna. American Midland Naturalist 153(1):180-186. [pdf]

2003 Brudvig, L. and P. F. Quintana-Ascencio. 2003. Herbivory and postgrazing response in Hypericum cumulicola . Florida Scientist 66(2):99-108.