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Knight Lab |
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| We study the population ecology plants with a focus on rare and invasive species, and address questions related to the causes and consequences of their abundances and distributions. Why are some species rare, while their closely related congeners are widespread? How does dispersal ability and density dependence determine the population abundance and spread of invasive plants? In particular, we focus on the role of interspecific interactions between plants and pollinators, herbivores, seed predators and competitors on the long term rates of plant population growth. We also study how these interactions, particularly plant-pollinator networks, have changed through time as a result of changes in our landscape use and climate. Our study sites include the Tyson Research Center near St. Louis, Missouri and surrounding natural areas in Missouri and Illinois, Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California, several military bases on the Hawaiian Islands (Oahu and Hawaii), and villages near Bangalore, India. |