Midwestern Prairie Communities

Grasslands, such as Tallgrass prairies, provide important ecological, economical, and societal services. Among other ecological services, grasslands host a high number of plant species, providing an interesting local ecosystems for the Bachelot Lab to investigate the biotic interactions helping to maintain a high diversity of plant species.

 

We focus on two important questions:

1. How do biotic interactions, both negative and positive, shape grassland communities?
2. How does biological invasion change these biotic controls (in collaboration with Dr. Hamed Gholizadeh in the OSU Department of Geography).

To answer these questions, we use large field experiments, as well as combining DNA and hyper-spectral imagery data.