Nutrient Network: A Cross-Site Investigation of Plant Community Dynamics and Ecosystem Function
The Nutrient Network (NutNet.org) is a global collaboration of over 300 scientists from over 160 sites in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa. This highly-coordinated effort provides critical information about how nutrient limitation and vertebrate herbivores control plant communities across the world’s climates and soils.
While research at HREC contributes to this important global network, it also serves to answer site-specific questions about nutrient limitation of California's grassland plants. Researchers are assessing three main nutrient treatments (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium plus micronutrients) in combination with herbivore cages to restrict plant consumption by herbivores like deer with the goal of improving rangeland management.
Researcher Spotlight: Dr. Elizabeth Borer and Dr. Eric Seabloom
With a shared interest in community-level studies of conservation, restoration, and invasion ecology, Elizabeth and Eric co-lead a research lab at the University of Minnesota where they are both professors of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. Check out their sites for more information about Elizabeth's global change research program, and Eric's ecological research projects.
Learn More!
There's a new network in town: DRAGnet! Aimed at assessing the factors that influence disturbance recovery and community assembly in herbaceous-dominated ecosystems, DRAGnet (Disturbance and Resources Across Global Grasslands) builds off a decade of highly successful collaborative research by the Nutrient Network.
