Plant ecology today

As a scientist, it is not easy to put so much of your energy and passion into proposals and manuscripts which elicit a lot of negative feedback (not always, but often enough).  It can be discouraging to keep moving forward, but I will not stop because I believe I have a meaningful contribution to the direction and future of science.  However, the true meaning comes from the time in between these submissions - in the education of people.  My goal as a scientist is to make plant ecology more accessible to people.  There is not a lack of material or resources available, rather a lack of caring and understanding of why someone should care about plants.  I find this interesting as other topics are of great interest and passion that are intricately linked to plants (i.e. environment, climate change, sustainability, aesthetics).  As scientists and educators, we need to make our specialty topics more accessible to the interests of others by approaching from the side of the issue and then layering in the basic principles that are the foundation of our scientific understanding. 

I have just concluded a wonderful 2 day symposium at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden on the "science and art of placemaking".  What I heard over and over again were the basic concepts of plant ecology and general ecology in a different context.  It is more exciting to people when framed from issues we care about (i.e. our surrounding environment at many scales).  There is a new push from our cities, schools, and businesses to be eco-friendly and to do it properly, we should include the foundations of ecology.  Now is the time for a rebirth in the plant sciences.  We can help people to recognize why they care about plants again!  And I am committed to be a part of this revitalization.  Next semester I will modify the course Plant Ecology to include Sustainability.  Through engaging with the community of people already involved in sustainable practices and education, I can begin to layer in the foundation of plant ecology.  This can lead to new and exciting research questions and applications.  We can monitor the ability of different plants to remove unwanted pollutants from stormwater runoff; we can understand the role of plants in shaping our coastline for sustainable coastal management.  Our world in shaped by plants and their interaction with the environment which is rapidly changing.  Now we can begin to learn about plant ecology in a new context and excite a new generation of students!

"...it is not half so important to know as to feel." - Rachel Carson

But we are more receptive to the knowledge when we feel something deep about the topic.
By: Julie Zinnert

CPEL at AGU

CPEL presented at AGU this year.  With over 24,000 attendees, this is by far the largest scientific conference we have attended.  AGU is an interesting meeting for a coastal lab since there are many physical processes to consider on barrier islands, in addition to biotic interactions.  We spent a lot of time at talks and posters of these physical processes (dune building, shoreline change, hydrological dynamics) and realize that as coastal scientists we need to integrate better the ecological and physical processes.  PI Julie Zinnert gave a talk on cross-scale interactions on barrier islands and analysis of ecosystem state change at the Virginia Coast Reserve over the last 30 years.  PhD student Benjamin Dows presented a poster on the controls between alternate stable states of grassland and shrubland.  In addition to papers by CPEL, VCU was represented at AGU this year with papers by PI Chris Gough (and students) and an undergraduate Environmental Studies student.  It was nice to see other VCU people at the meeting.

As a parent, it is challenging to integrate both work and family; however, most conferences are family friendly (or becoming so) by offering childcare services as well as a general acceptance of children at the conference.  While the number of children at AGU was less than we see at ESA, there were still many parents who toted along their little ones.  It was refreshing to see!  Despite such a rainy week, it was an excellent meeting with lots of motivation for shaping our future research.  It was also nice to see ex-CPEL graduates, Sheri Shiflett (post-doc at UC Riverside) and Steven Brantley (Research Scientist at Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center).  The Old Guard took AGU by storm!

Julie Zinnert and baby A at the poster session.

Ben Dows presents his poster.

The Old Guard (or part of it): Sheri Shiflett, Julie Zinnert, Donald Young, Steven Brantley

Meeting and seminar with Dr. Tony Stallins

Dr. Tony Stallins visited the Coastal Plant Ecology Lab the weekend following Thanksgiving.  It was a very enlightening visit that has stimulated a lot of ideas regarding plant species, feedbacks with physical processes, island stability, disturbance, and scale.  We will continue to pursue these ideas in our research and in an upcoming BIOL693 seminar - Cross-scale interactions.  Barrier islands are ideal systems for studying resilience theory, alternate states and thresholds because of the strong feedbacks between plants and the physical environment.  Dune building vegetation creates different types of dunes, which affects whole island level processes.  Tony's paper "Stability domains in barrier island dune systems" has been very influential in current CPEL research and discusses the role of vegetation in shaping barrier islands.  We are very grateful to Tony for taking time to meet with us and look forward to future collaboration.

PhD student Stephen Via's research is focused on the impact of explosive compounds on vegetation across scales.  In his recently-published paper, "Differential effects of two explosive compounds on seed germination and seedling morphology of a woody shrub, Morella cerifera", Stephen examined the impacts of two common explosives, TNT and RDX, on germination and juvenile growth of a native coastal shrub that is commonly found at former coastal bombing ranges.  His investigation across life stages showed that plants have variable responses to contaminants, concentration, and these effects differ with life stage.  These findings are important as explosive compounds have the potential to act as filters of species establishment and community structure / function.  Stephen will continue his research to quantify the effects of explosives on establishment, physiological functioning, and ultimately community composition.  More exciting results to come! The article can be found at:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10646-014-1372-x?sa_campaign=email/event/articleAuthor/onlineFirst
or by emailing viasm@vcu.edu.




Morella cerifera growing in different concentrations of RDX.  Photo credit: Stephen Via



Meet our new faces

We have a new group of graduate and undergraduate researchers working on a range of topics in coastal plant ecology. Their research will continue to advance our understanding of the many complex and interacting factors across barrier island landscapes, which provide the first line of defense against storms for millions of people living in coastal areas.

April Harris joined our lab as a master's student.  Her research interests include investigating the competitive/facilitative interactions between the three dune building grass species:,Ammophila breviligulata, Uniola paniculata, and Spartina patens, in the presence and absence of sand accretion.  These interactions are particularly interesting because they ultimately lead to differences in dune morphology and barrier island stability.

 

 

Joey Thompson joined our lab as a master's student.  His research interests include plant diversity, how it is affected by human caused disturbances, and the most efficient ways to implement restoration and conservation.  He is interested in identifying native plants and understanding relationships with other organisms.  Knowing interactions between species in an ecosystem  helps him to better understand how that ecosystem functions.  Joey has a strong interest in naturalism which is expressed partly through photographing nature and identifying species and phenomena.  He uses photography and knowledge of the natural world to inspire others who are less interested in the scientific community.  Joey's main interest is plants, although he has a general passion for science and philosophy of all types.  Botany, ornithology, entomology, mycology, physics, and metaphysics are some topics that he is particularly interested in.  Music is another favorite ways to express himself outside of science.  Joey plays a doumbek and listen to blues, soul, folk, and classic rock. Other hobbies include mountain biking, longboarding, and reading.

 

 



 



Joseph Brown joined our lab as a master's student.  His research interests include looking at how sand accretion and competition of two dune building species, Ammophila breviligulata and Uniola paniculata affects functional traits and growth of these species. His research will contribute our understanding of how grass distribution and island morphology could change on barrier island depending on the northern migration of Uniola paniculata due to climate change.



 

 

 

Ashley Moulton joined our lab as a master's student.  Her research interests include understanding how feedbacks between abiotic and biotic factors influence the distribution of vegetation in coastal landscapes. She is also interested in utilizing spatial analysis to better understand variance within these dynamic systems. Her research aims to further develop best management practices which aid professionals who work to restore coastal systems to improve their resiliency and stability. 

 

Audrey Kirschner joined our lab as an undergraduate student.  Her research interests include understanding the physiological responses of barrier island graminoids (Spartina patens and Fimbristylis spadicea) to salinity, flooding, and drought. These physiological responses affect their distribution across the landscape with changing climate (i.e. variable precipitation, sea-level rise).  In addition to studying at VCU, Audrey spent a semester abroad in Western Australia where  she took courses learning about Australian flora and fauna.



 

Successful trip to the 99th annual Ecological Society of America meeting

We have just returned (although some of our luggage has not) from Sacramento, CA where three graduate students and I presented papers.  Benjamin Dows talked about his master's research on dispersal of the native shrub, Morella cerifera which is expanding range across the Virginia barrier islands.  I presented a lab project on community level shifts between shrubland and grassland and how this influences island geomorphology at the island-chain level.  We met scientists from the Netherlands and learned that the same phenomenon of shrub expansion is occurring on the Frisian barrier islands.  Perhaps a trans-Atlantic barrier island comparison is in our future.

Stephen Via presented a portion of his doctoral dissertation research quantifying community level impacts of buried explosives, which have long lasting implications on composition, structure and functional traits.  Paul Manley talked about his master's research on remote sensing detection of explosives using plants.  We were interviewed by livescience thanks to the excellent talks by Paul and Stephen.  Check out the story here: http://www.livescience.com/47377-plants-sniff-out-land-mines.html

Finally, no meeting is complete without experiencing what the area has to offer.  We visited local parks and enjoyed the different vegetation of California, tasted local drinks at wineries and breweries, and of course hiked at the Pacific Coast.

Posted by: Julie Zinnert

Graduate student awards to travel to Crete

Graduate students, Stephen Via and Paul Manley II received travel awards to present cutting edge research on plants and explosives at the 11th annual International Phytotechnologies Conference in Crete! They will present research on the effects of explosives on plant communities and advances in using remote sensing of plants to detect contaminated soils. We are very proud of their hard work and effort and excited for their trip!

Sign at Duck Field Research Facility where unexploded ordnances continue to pose a threat. Photo credit: Julie Zinnert