Interests • Functional Basis of Demographic Trade-offs • Seed Dispersal & Seedling Regeneration • Plant-Soil Feedbacks & Soil Microbiome • Nebraska's Forests on the Edge
Research: Nebraska's Forests on the Edge
Like islands in a sea of prairie, Nebraska's forests are "on the edge" - both literally and figuratively. The woodlands along the Missouri and Niobrara Rivers in Nebraska are ecologically unique to North America, host diverse habitats, and regulate ecosystem services, such as hydrology, carbon cycling, and nutrient retention. They are on the edge of climatic conditions that can support trees and are also on the edge in terms of potential threats to continued forest health, such as including increasingly unpredictable climate regimes, pest outbreaks, woody encroachment, and historical suppression of natural and cultural fire. The Niobrara woodlands have been a climate change refugium since the Last Glacial Maximum, and so Nebraska's Forests on the Edge play a key role in long-term diversity maintenance in Nebraska. The goal of Nebraska Forests on the Edge is to link forest changes to environmental drivers, bridging basic and translational ecology. We do this by collecting longitudinal data on tree populations at two forest inventory plots in Nebraska, the Niobrara plot and the Indian Cave plot These data are critical for effective management and protection of the public and ecosystem services of Nebraska's forests. By comparing the forests in global analyses, the Niobrara and Indian Cave plots also contribute to our larger understanding of how wooded ecosystems function in a changing world.
The Nebraska Forests on the Edge permanent forest monitoring plots are part of the Smithsonian ForestGEO global network of forest dynamics plots. One plot is in the Niobrara River valley in North-central Nebraska on property of The Nature Conservancy's Niobrara Valley Preserve, and the other is in Indian Cave State Park in the southeastern corner of the State.
Watch a fun video clip showing undergraduate researcher Brittni McGuire using a crossbow to sample leaves of tall canopy trees: Crossbow sampling!
Watch a video tour of the Indian Cave forest dynamics plot by Sabrina Russo and PhD student Bailey McNichol: Video tour of the Indian Cave forest dynamics plot
Read about some of the exciting work we and others are doing using the Niobrara and Indian Cave plots:
- McNichol, B., R. Wang, J.A. Gamon, S.E. Russo. 2026. Leaf photoprotection and water relations traits reveal novel axes of coordination and trade-offs in leaf function. Functional Ecology 40:1676–1697. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.70329
- McNicholg, B., C. Helzer, S. McMahon, R. Wang, S.E. Russo. 2024. Topography-driven microclimate gradients shape forest structure, diversity, and composition in a temperate refugial forest. Plant-Environment Interactions 5(3):e10153, doi.org/10.1002/pei3.10153
- Gamon, J.A., R. Wang, R., S.E. Russo. 2023. Contrasting photoprotective responses of forest trees revealed using PRI light responses sampled with airborne imaging spectrometry. New Phytologist 238(3):1318-1332, doi.org/10.1111/nph.18754 and nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1111/(ISSN)1469-8137.integrative-remote-sensing
- Delavaux, C.S. et al. including S.E. Russo. 2023. Mycorrhizal feedbacks influence global forest structure and diversity. Communications Biology doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05410-z
