Interested in Joining the lab?
PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS
I will be accepting 1-2 graduate students to begin in summer or fall 2025. Please read over my website to learn more about research in the lab, and send me an email with a CV or resume, research interests, and a writing sample, if you think you'd be a good fit!
I will be accepting 1-2 graduate students to begin in summer or fall 2025. Please read over my website to learn more about research in the lab, and send me an email with a CV or resume, research interests, and a writing sample, if you think you'd be a good fit!
Trekking near Bariloche, Patagonia
Kerry Byrne (PI)
When Kerry isn't teaching and helping students with research projects, she enjoys being outdoors with her husband, daughters, and border collie, Zea mays. She loves backpacking, trail running, and cooking tasty new dishes in her spare time. Two recent adventures were hiking the John Muir trail (solo) in 2014 and backpacking the Walker's Haute Route in France and Switzerland in 2016. Since then, her adventure has mostly been working full time while raising two young children during the pandemic.
Current Graduate Students
Lee Minicuci joined the lab in June 2024. He is interested in community ecology and restoration ecology. His past experience includes fuel characterization and fire ecology in the New Jersey Pine Barrens as well as the monitoring and research of rare plants and plant communities in New Jersey. His graduate research involves examining the response of grassland plant species to lethal drought conditions and utilizing that knowledge to better inform and equip land managers and grassland restoration practitioners. In his spare time Lee enjoys mountain biking, hiking, and photographing birds and plants.
Jesse Laine joined the lab in July 2024. He graduated with a B.S in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UC Santa Cruz, and was previously working as an Entomology Technician for the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. His grad work is looking at long-term success of restored coastal grasslands and insect biodiversity. When not looking for bugs he likes to play guitar, make films, brew beer, and use every dish in the kitchen while cooking.
Francisco Chavez joined the lab in June 2021, after graduating from HSU with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Management with an emphasis in Ecological Restoration and a minor in Botany. He managed to complete his 4-year degree right after high school in 3 years! As a graduate student, he is monitoring the recovery of sagebrush steppe plant communities after a 4-year experimental drought and determining if a legacy effect is evident within the communities. This project requires that he looks at different components of the plant communities, such as aboveground and belowground biomass, seed bank composition, and species composition. His research will help contribute to areas of sciences that do not receive a lot of research attention. During his free time, Francisco enjoys baking with his roommates, playing video games with his friends, and zoning out on long runs while listening to his favorite songs.
Graduate Student Alumni
Jules Bartley, M.S. '23
Jules successfully defended their thesis "Physical characteristics and fine roots within duff mounds of old-growth sugar and Jeffrey pine in a fire-excluded Sierran mixed-conifer forest" in summer 2023 and currently works for the Forest Service FIA Program in Washington.
Sean Stewart, M.S. '23
Sean successfully defended his thesis "Insights into the conservation of the rare perennial herb, Astragalus applegatei" in spring 2023. His research was published in Restoration Ecology in 2024. He currently works for Applied River Science in Arcata, CA as a Riparian Revegetation Design and Implementation Technician.
Allison Nunes, M.S. '21
Allison successfully defended her thesis "Seed bank composition within two sagebrush steppe communities: a comparison of drought and microsite effects" in summer 2021. Her research was published in Journal of Arid Environments in 2022. She currently works as an Ecologist at HT Harvey and Associates.
Jules successfully defended their thesis "Physical characteristics and fine roots within duff mounds of old-growth sugar and Jeffrey pine in a fire-excluded Sierran mixed-conifer forest" in summer 2023 and currently works for the Forest Service FIA Program in Washington.
Sean Stewart, M.S. '23
Sean successfully defended his thesis "Insights into the conservation of the rare perennial herb, Astragalus applegatei" in spring 2023. His research was published in Restoration Ecology in 2024. He currently works for Applied River Science in Arcata, CA as a Riparian Revegetation Design and Implementation Technician.
Allison Nunes, M.S. '21
Allison successfully defended her thesis "Seed bank composition within two sagebrush steppe communities: a comparison of drought and microsite effects" in summer 2021. Her research was published in Journal of Arid Environments in 2022. She currently works as an Ecologist at HT Harvey and Associates.
Undergraduate Researchers
Current
- Brandon Clarkson and Elena Bewick - Ecological restoration capstone project, soil Nitrogen responses to yellow bush lupine removal: a comparative study at Lanphere dunes (Aug 2024 - present)
- Blaine Folrath - Mark B. Rhea research scholar, assisting Lee with quantifying native grassland species drought responses - especially root responses (Sept 2024 - present)
- Skylar Johnson - paid ethnobotany internship with the BLM Arcata office (May 2023 - present)
- Dino Santia - HSI ARI STEM student research scholar, herbicide impacts on soil seed bank (Jan 2024 - present)
- Owen Bardsley - paid internship with BLM Arcata office (May 2023 - Sept 2024)
- Jacob Scott and Kylie Stear (Boise State University students) - sheep targeted grazing impacts on soil seed bank (Aug 2023 - May 2024)
- Dellaina Morse and Scott Estepa - Ecological restoration capstone project, herbicide impacts on soil seed bank (2022 - 2023)
- Kloe Walter and Scott Estepa - paid internships with the BLM Arcata office (2022 - 2023)
- AJ Murphy and Owen Bardsley - drought recovery of sagebrush (2022)
- Theron Taylor and Kayla Thompson - Ecological restoration capstone project, fine root biomass in mineral soil beneath duff mounds in old growth pines (2022)
- Cristina Winters - fine root biomass in duff mounds and mineral soil of old growth pines (2021 - 2022)
- Jade Dodley and Shannon Rocha - Ecological restoration capstone project, fine root biomass in duff mounts of old growth pines (2022)
- Sarah Aguiar - phenology of California poppies (2021)
- Sam Kelly and Cessair McKinney - Ecological restoration capstone project, estimating sagebrush seeds using a photography app (2020 - 2021) read their open access publication in March 2022 Ecological Restoration!
- Ethan Reibsome and Beth Rouse - drought impacts on sagebrush (2019)
- Sean Stewart and Erik Ramos - Ecological restoration capstone project, seed bank germination study along a restoration gradient at Lanphere Dunes (2019 - 2020)
- Corina Godoy and Jonathan Vellanoweth - Ecological restoration capstone project, germination trials of Astragalus applegatei (2018 - 2019)
- Roxana Mostafavi and Stephanie Bowler - drought impacts on sagebrush (2017 - 2018)
- Nathan Connell and Allison Young (OIT students) - germination trials of Astragalus applegatei (2016 -2017)
- Chloe Dean (nee Smith), Aaron Miller, and Morgaine Riggins (OIT students) - population monitoring of Astragalus applegatei (2016)
- Taylor Mays (OIT student) - population monitoring of Limnanthes floccosa ssp. bellingeriana (2016)
- Rizka Ongge (OIT student) - pollination study of Astragalus applegatei (2014 - 2015)