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Environmental
Science and Regional Planning
Richard Gill
Human
Impact on Ecosystems
Understanding
how ecosystems respond and recover from disturbance is
a fundamental question facing environmental scientists,
with bearing on natural resource management, environmental
policy, and basic ecological theory. Dr. Richard Gill
and his colleagues are examining the consequence of disturbance
for a number of ecosystems, ranging from the pyroclastic
flows of Mount Saint Helens to intensely grazed subalpine
pastures in Utah. This collaboration with scientists
from a variety of disciplines explores how intact ecosystems
function and respond to disturbance. The team is interested
in discovering how feedbacks between plants, soils, and
the atmosphere work in concert to shape emergent properties
in ecosystems.
The
diversity of the research reflect the scope of the problems
associated with disturbance and the strength of collaborative
research potential within the Washington State University
system. Three of the ongoing projects demonstrate how
to use information from both natural and anthropogenic
disturbance to understand ecosystem properties and functions:
Community
and Ecosystem Recovery on Mount Saint Helens
In collaboration with Drs. John Bishop, Eldon Franz, and Jeff Smith,
the team explores feedbacks between plants, herbivores, and soil
nutrient cycling to understand what controls succession on the
pumice plains.
Response
of Blackland Prairie to Past and Future Atmospheric
CO2
This research, in collaboration with researchers at USDA and Duke
University, is designed to experimentally evaluate the consequences
of rising CO2 on nutrient cycles, soil carbon storage, and water
availability.
Recovery
and Analysis of the Great Basin Experimental Range
Datasets
Dr. Gill’s team is archiving nearly 50 years of historical plant
community and soils data from the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah.
Ultimately these data will help address questions about how subalpine
ecosystems recover following the cessation of overgrazing.
These
projects are designed to provide insights on basic principals
of ecology as well as increase understanding of the important
feedbacks that structure ecosystems.
Contact
Information
Richard Gill, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Environmental
Science and Regional Planning
Washington State University
PO Box 644430
Pullman, WA 99164-4430
Telephone:
509-335-6422
E-mail: rgill@wsu.edu
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