NSF EAGER: Determining the Role of Priority Effects within Dominant Species to Govern Intra-specific Variation and Diversity

Summary​:

This research will extend an important area of current research that has explored how ecological communities re-assemble after disturbance events like fires, floods or droughts. This research will use plant populations in the Southern Great Plains to extend assembly idea beyond interactions among species, looking at whether priority effects in the interactions among individuals of the same species shape populations in terms of the diversity and their functions in the ecosystem. Researchers will study six different grass species, allowing comparison of species that are native to the Great Plains to some that are invading non-natives. This comparison will strengthen our understanding of how diversity within species comes about and influences the rest of the community, and may help us manage this important habitat.