Previous Partners

Analysis and management of disturbance effects including fire and fire exclusion, climate change, and land use on terrestrial ecosystems, natural resources, and wildlife at multiple scales, with particular focus on open oak and pine ecosystems. Oak and pine savannas and woodlands are part of a continuum between grasslands and closed forests. The unique bipartite characteristics…

Dr. Wisdom has conducted research on threats to sagebrush habitats and species and is editor of a new book, “Habitat Threats in the Sagebrush Ecosystem: Methods of Regional Assessment and Applications in the Great Basin.” For information on ordering this book, please visit the Alliance Communications Group website.

Dr. Turner specializes in the application of modern statistical design and analysis techniques to natural resource problems.

Dr. Tanaka’s specialty is Resource and Environmental Economics and his current research interests include the economic effects of livestock grazing management practices in riparian areas and public land policy and economic issues surrounding rangeland sustainability and rural communities. For SageSTEP, Dr. Tanaka will help lead the development of ranch level models to determine the economic…

Dr. Knick’s research explores shrubsteppe systems in the Intermountain West. He has investigated the role of human and natural disturbance in shaping ecological systems, the effects of habitat fragmentation on passerine bird communities, resource selection by animals, the use of satellite imagery to determine landscape attributes of semi-arid regions, and spatial and temporal modeling of…

Dr. Johnson’s research explores (1) biogeochemical cycling, including the influence of atmospheric pollution, climate change, and fire, and (2) soils. His current soils research interests are soil-soil solution chemical interactions, factors affecting organic carbon accumulation and loss, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus transformations, and trace gas emission from soils.

Dr. Bunting’s research focuses on the effects of fire and fire management in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, including sagebrush steppe and western juniper woodlands. The overall goal of the research is a better understanding of the function of disturbance, and particularly fire, in the dynamics of rangeland ecosystems.

Dr. Tausch’s research explores 1) the paleoecology of Great Basin upland ecosystems to determine how plant communities have changed in response to Holocene climate change; 2) more recent vegetation changes by focus on how the spatial and temporal patterns of the expansion of pinyon-juniper woodlands is influencing the community dynamics and fire patterns of the…

Dr Miller’s research explores (1) the impacts of juniper expansion on plant community dynamics and avian populations, (2) juniper woodland chronology, (3) dynamics and ecology of old growth juniper woodlands, (4) impacts of fire on plant community structure, composition, and on avian, small mammal, and lepidoptera populations, and (5) fire history of the sagebrush steppe.

Dr. Rollins’ work explores economic problems associated with allocation of public goods, incentive mechanisms for optimal conservation and use of environmental amenities, and valuation of environmental amenities.