In my work with population and community ecology, I view the plant component of ecosystems as collections of populations differing in life history traits, and therefore in their capacity to endure and exploit environmental extremes such as fire in shrublands, or the seasonal flooding of temporary wetlands. My work has included detailed studies of individual populations, and medium to long-term studies of population changes. I believe that such work is necessary to provide a sound basis for theoretical reasoning, and to guide decisions in land management. Fire is an important natural process in many plant communities, and one of the few management options that can profoundly modify large areas of land for relatively little cost. I have been particularly interested in understanding how the fire return interval affects shrub populations in the coastal sage scrub and chaparral.
Similar questions are important in many ecosystems.
My interest in restoration ecology has been stimulated by projects in which the objective was either to increase the habitat for endangered species, or to regulate disturbance regimes to return ecosystems to a more desirable state, primarily by manipulating fire intervals. My students, associates, and I have also studied projects in which artificial habitat was created to increase populations of endangered vernal pool species in one area, and offset losses in another. Work following restoration and creation projects, and my interest in post-fire recovery of shrublands, has stimulated an interest in ecological monitoring. With associates and students, I have been working on a large-scale ecological monitoring project on Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base. Monitoring is becoming increasingly important in ecosystem ecology as long-term bioreserve systems, such as those proposed under California Natural Communities Conservation Planning, are put into place, often with minimal assurance that they will remain viable into the future.