Elizabeth Pringle: Ecology of plant-animal interactions
Title
Ecology of plant-animal interactions
Mentor
Department
Biosketch
Elizabeth Pringle, Ph.D., graduated with her doctoral degree in biology from Stanford University, in 2011. Her research focuses on the evolutionary ecology of multi-species mutualisms. As a professor, her goal is to help young scientists find their passion in research and develop the skills they need to succeed and she heads at the Βι¶ΉΣ³». The Pringle Lab is interested in the ecology of plant-animal interactions. Specifically, they seek to understand how plant chemistry mediates the connection between food webs and nutrient cycles in the context of global change. They are particularly interested in the chemical mechanisms underlying beneficial interactions between species (mutualisms), and in how these mechanisms are affected by changes in precipitation in dryland systems.
Project overview
The project will focus on the question: how do multiple ecological stressors, including drought and herbivory, affect plant-insect food webs in Great Basin sagebrush systems? Plants are the base of food webs on land, and changes in plant chemistry can feed up to affect the plant’s herbivores and their predators and feed down to affect nutrient cycling in the soil. Water stress is common in dryland systems and has stereotypical effects on plant chemistry, but these effects may vary depending on other resource sinks, like herbivory or microbial mutualisms. The student will join a dynamic group of postdoctoral personnel, graduate students, and other undergraduate students working on a new plant-drought project with field work north of Reno and greenhouse experiments on Valley Road to produce novel insights into the effects of drought on biodiversity. Students will learn experimental design, plant and insect husbandry, analyses of plant chemistry, and statistical analyses.
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