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Megan Poulette, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Botany at Rocky Mountain College will teach us how to properly save seeds.
I am an ecosystem ecologist with training in the plant and soil sciences. I am interested in examining the potentially variable relationship between native and invasive plant species and their relationship with ecosystem processes. Invasive species are significant drivers of global environmental change, and the increasing spread of invasive plant species has the potential to greatly alter ecosystem processes. My dissertation research used measurements of soil physicochemical properties, nutrient cycling, litter decomposition, throughfall, and the soil microbial community to document and understand the effects of an invasive shrub species on ecosystem processes in a savanna in central Kentucky. I utilized different invasive-native species pairs to link a mechanistic understanding of these ecosystem impacts with an examination of the ecological context (neighborhood) in which the invasion is occurring. I plan to continue to examine the role that the native plant community plays in enhancing or moderating invasive species impacts. I am excited to be teaching and pursuing new research opportunities in the prairies, riparian corridors, forests, and alpine meadows of the beautiful Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
