Over the past five years, my team’s research has emphasized five themes related to restoration ecology: 1) understanding limitations to community reassembly, 2) improving revegetation practices, 3) developing approaches for pre- and post- restoration assessments, 4) developing invasive species removal strategies and enhancing post-removal recovery enhancing ecosystem recovery after invasive species removal, and 5) assessing risks of introduced aquatic plants. Most of our work has focused on research in the prairie pothole wetlands within the agricultural landscapes of the Midwestern U.S. However, we have pursued research on each of these topics in other regions and systems, as well.

The focus and strength of my research program has been its experimental approach to solving restoration dilemmas and translating these experimental findings into practical guidelines. I would like to complement these efforts with more attention to problem-solving at the landscape scale and to synthesis.  Our landscape-scale work has, thus far, been observational. I see modeling as an opportunity to use our empirical knowledge to test ideas over larger areas and longer time frames than is feasible in field studies. I also believe that the past decade has laid a good foundation for synthesizing across the various systems we have worked in to advance general principles key to understanding the ecology of restorations.  In particular, I intend to focus on the vegetation dynamics during the transition between invasive species eradication and establishment of native communities and the resulting implications to restoration.