Research in the Vegetation Dynamics Lab is focused on identifying the causes and consequences of vegetation change in ecological communities from both a theoretical and applied perspective. We work mainly in forested ecosystems where fire is a predominant disturbance agent. Particular interests include:

• the role of natural and human caused disturbance in driving vegetation change and maintaining species diversity;
• disturbance interactions and how they constrain or promote future change;
• climate-disturbance interactions;
• disturbance and forest stand population dynamics;
• forest structure, fire behavior, and fire effects; and
• ecological restoration.

Faculty and graduate students in the laboratory usually collaborate closely with natural resource agencies in executing their research.

The laboratory is fully equipped, and LEAPS and Riparia also share facilities, providing a wide array of additional instrumentation to support research.

The director is Alan Taylor.