Summary
The mission of Weisberg lab is to improve our understanding of landscape dynamics and to apply this understanding in support of sound natural resource management. We are interested in the causes and consequences of landscape change, including climate shifts, natural and anthropogenic disturbance, fire-climate-vegetation interactions, treeline dynamics, forest mortality and ecosystem resilience, response of vegetation to fire and to altered fire regimes, grazing effects, and invasive species. Of particular interest are the controlling influences on the distribution of trees in arid landscapes, in which context we study spatial pattern and causal mechanism underlying recent and historical expansions and contractions of semi-arid woodlands. With our collaborators we explore animal use of heterogeneous landscapes through spatial modeling of habitat quality, habitat change and landscape connectivity. Our research is highly interdisciplinary and employs a broad methodological toolkit, including field studies, dendrochronology, greenhouse experiments, GIS, remote sensing, geospatial analysis and ecological modeling. Although we often work internationally, the special geographical focus of the Lab is on landscapes of the Great Basin and eastern Sierras.
Education
B.S., 1992, SUNY College of Env. Science and Forestry (Forest Biology)
M.S., 1994, University of Wyoming (Biogeography)
PhD, 1998 Oregon State University (Forest Ecology)