Research
Current research and projects at the reserve.
Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease – Palouse
Our limited understanding of the relationships between biodiversity, land use patterns, and the transmission of zoonotic pathogens in wildlife hinders our ability to predict and control zoonotic pathogen spillover from wildlife to humans, domestic animals, and livestock.
Project Leader:
Dr. Pilar Fernandez (co-PI): pilar.fernandez@wsu.edu
Dr. Stephaine Steifter (co-PI): stephanie.seifert@wsu.edu
Graduate Student: Catherine Grady: anna.grady@wsu.edu
Lab Group:
Dr. Pilar Fernandez (co-PI), Washington State University, Eco-epidemiology of Zoonotic Disease (EZD) Lab
Dr. Stephaine Steifter (co-PI), Washington State University, Molecular Ecology of Zoonotic Animal Pathogens (MEZAP) Lab
Mining the microbiome to boost chickpea nutritional quality
Failure to consume sufficient nutrients is a global problem. Microbes profoundly affect nutrient cycling and availability in the rhizosphere which can directly affect crop nutritional quality. The major goal of this project is to harness the plant microbiome to enhance chickpea’s nutritional quality.
Project Leader:
Renee Petipas (PI)
Lab Group:
Maren Friesen, CAHNRS, Pullman, WA
They are currently finishing up this work and will be preparing a publication in early 2024!
Rose Creek and Fourmile Creek Riparian Restoration and Bio-Engineering Projects
The Palouse Conservation District has partnered with WSU and Smoot Hill operations to install two riparian restoration and bio-engineer stream enhancement projects. These include a 9-acre restoration project on Rose Creek and a 16-acre restoration project along Fourmile Creek. Since Fall 2022, about 3,000 plants have been installed at Rose Creek and 1700 at Fourmile Creek.
Project Leader:
Drew Schuldt
Research catalog
Biological Soil Crust Community Survey
How do communities of native mosses, lichens, algae, and fungi growing on the soil surface change when invasive annual grass Ventenata dubia colonizes and dominates a plant community?
Project Leader: Rachel Berner, PhD Student
Lab Group: Cheeke Lab (website)
Department: School of Biological Sciences
Campus: WSU Tri-Cities
Responsiveness of Native Palouse Prairie Plants to Mycorrhizal Fungi
How do native plant species respond to inoculation with symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and could this knowledge be used to improve restoration methods for native plants?
Project Leader: Dr. Tanya Cheeke, Assistant Professor
Lab Group: Cheeke Lab (website)
Department: School of Biological Sciences
Campus: WSU Tri-Cities
Publications from this project:
Cheeke, T.E., Zheng, C., Koziol, L., Gurholt, C.R., and J.D. Bever. 2019. Sensitivity to AMF species is greater in late-successional than early-successional native or non-native grassland plants. Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2855
The Impacts of an Invasive Grass Ventenata Dubia on Native Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
How do native communities of AM fungi change when invasive annual grass Ventenata dubia colonizes and dominates a plant community?
Project Leader: Alexis Sullivan, Master’s Student
Lab Group: Cheeke Lab (website)
Department: School of Biological Sciences
Campus: WSU Tri-Cities
The Impacts of an Invasive Grass Ventenata dubia on Native Dark Septate Endophytic Fungi
How do native communities of root-associated Dark Septate Endophytic (DSE) fungi in the soil change when invasive annual grass Ventenata dubia colonizes and dominates a plant community?
Project Leader: Rachel Berner, PhD Student
Lab Group: Cheeke Lab (website)
Department: School of Biological Sciences
Campus: WSU Tri-Cities
Fishbein, Mark. The Plants of Smoot Hill. Marion Ownby Herbarium, Washington State University.
Pullman, WA. Online at http://www.wsu.edu:8080/%7Ewsherb/smoot.html
Steury, Tim. 2000. Smoot Hill: Remnant of a Prairie Community. Universe 13(1):22-23. Washington State University Office of Research. Pullman, WA.
Guthrie, Dan J. 1971. The Nesting Birds of Smoot Hill. MS thesis (zoology), Washington State University, Pullman, WA.
Dilworth, K. A., Borowiec, M. L., Cohen, A. L., Mickelson, G. S., Oeller, E. C., Crowder, D. W., & Clark, R. E. 2021. Ants of the Palouse Prairie: diversity and species composition in an endangered grassland. Biodiversity data journal, 9, e65768. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.9.e65768.
D. Hatten, C. Looney, J. P. Strange, N. A. Bosque-Pérez. 2013. Bumble bee fauna of Palouse Prairie: Survey of native bee pollinators in a fragmented ecosystem, Journal of Insect Science, Volume 13, Issue 1, 26, Link to paper.
Thompson, J. N. 1987a. Variance in number of eggs per patch – oviposition behavior and population dispersion in a seed parasitic moth. Ecological Entomology 12: 311- 320. Link to paper
Ragland, G. J. and P. A. Carter. 2004. Genetic covariance structure of growth in the salamander Ambystoma macrodactylum. Heredity 92: 569-578. Link to paper.
Mack, R. N. 1981. Initial effects of ash fall from Mount St. Helens on vegetation in eastern Washington and adjacent Idaho. Science 213: 537-539. Link to paper.
Randall, J. A. and R. E. Johnson 1979. Population densities and habitat occupancy by Microtus longicaudus and Microtus montanus. Journal of Mammalogy 60: 217-219. Link to paper.
Pinto, Carlos. “Mammals of the Smoot Hill Biological Area.” PhD diss., Washington State University, 1971.
Daniel C. Schlatter, Christopher M. Baugher, Kendall Kahl, David R. Huggins, Jodi L. Johnson-Maynard, Timothy C. Paulitz. 2019. Bacterial communities of soil and earthworm casts of native Palouse Prairie remnants and no-till wheat cropping systems. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 139:107625. Link to paper.
Karolina Fučíková, Jared C. Rada & Louise A. Lewis (2011) The tangled taxonomic history of Dictyococcus, Bracteacoccus and Pseudomuriella (Chlorophyceae, Chlorophyta) and their distinction based on a phylogenetic perspective, Phycologia, 50:4, 422-429, Link to paper.
Laura L. Ingwell, Christelle Lacroix, Paul R. Rhoades, Alexander V. Karasev, Nilsa A. Bosque-Pérez. 2017. Agroecological and environmental factors influence Barley yellow dwarf viruses in grasslands in the US Pacific Northwest, Virus Research. 241: 185-195. Link to Paper.
Metting, F. B. 1979. A comparative study of algal communities on cultivated and uncultivated portions of a Schumacher silt loam. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Botany, Washington State University.
Metting, F. B. 1980. New species of green microalgae (Chlorophycophyta) from an eastern Washington silt loam. Phycologia 19: 296–306.
Westover, K. M., A. C. Kennedy, and S. E. Kelley. 1997. Patterns of rhizosphere microbial community structure associated with co-occurring plant species. Journal of Ecology 85: 863-873. Link to paper.
Jones, L., Davis, C., & Prather, T. 2020. Consequences of Ventenata Dubai 30 years postinvasion to bunchgrass communities in the Pacific Northwest. Invasive Plant Science and Management, 13(4), 226-238. doi:10.1017/inp.2020.29.
L L Ingwell. 2015. The invasive weed Ventenata dubia is a host of the Barley yellow dwarf virus with implications for an endangered grassland habitat. Weed Research. 55:62-70. Link to paper.
Bookman, P. A. and R. N. Mack. 1982. Root interaction between Bromus tectorum and Poa pratensis: A three-dimensional analysis. Ecology 63: 440-446.
Bookman, P. A. and R. N. Mack. 1983. Competition between Bromus tectorum and Poa pratensis: The role of light. Oecologia 57: 406-411.
Mack, R. N. and D. A. Pyke. 1983. The demography of Bromus tectorum L.: Variation in time and space. Journal of Ecology 71: 69-93.
Mack, R. N. and D. A. Pyke. 1984. The demography of Bromus tectorum: The role of microclimate, predation and disease. Journal of Ecology 72: 731-748.
Pyke, D. A. 1986. Demographic responses of Bromus tectorum and seedlings of Agropyron spicatum to grazing by small mammals – occurence and severity of grazing. Journal of Ecology 74: 739-754.
Pierson, E. A. and R. N. Mack 1990. The population biology of Bromus tectorum in forests: distinguishing the opportunity for dispersal from environmental restriction. Oecologia 84: 519-525.
Rice, K. J. and R. N. Mack. 1991. Ecological genetics of Bromus tectorum: III. The demography of reciprocally sown populations. Oecologia 88: 91-101.
Rice, K. J. and R. N. Mack. 1991. Ecological genetics of Bromus tectorum: II. Intraspecific variation in phenotypic plasticity. Oecologia 88: 84-90.
Rice, K. J. and R. N. Mack. 1991. Ecological genetics of Bromus tectorum: I. A hierarchical analysis of phenotypic variation. Oecologia 88: 77-83.
Thompson, J. N. 1998. Coping with multiple enemies: 10 years of attack on Lomatium dissectum plants. Ecology 79: 2550-2554.
Thompson, J. N. 1983. The use of ephemeral plant-parts on small host plants – how Depressaria leptotaeniae(Lepidoptera, Oecophoridae) feeds on Lomatium dissectum (Umbelliferae). Journal of Animal Ecology 52: 281-291.
Thompson, J. N. and M. E. Moody. 1985. Assessing probability of interaction in size-structured populations – Depressaria attack on Lomatium. Ecology 66: 1597-1607.
Sánchez-de León, Y., Johnson-Maynard, J. Dominance of an invasive earthworm in native and non-native grassland ecosystems. Biol Invasions 11, 1393–1401 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9347-6. Link to paper.
Connolly, B. M. 2013. Comparing biotic resistance between Pacific Northwest steppe and coniferous forest: The role of predation, competition, and parasitism. Ph.D. Dissertation, School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University.
Almquist, T. L. 2013. Bromus tectorum in the Intermountain West and Great Plains (USA): Population variation and regional environment influence the course of an invasion. Ph.D. Dissertation, School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University.
Rabie, P. A. 2010. Demography and individual growth of two introduced Bromus species. Ph.D. Dissertation, School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University
Looney, C. 2008. Habitat loss and fragmentation on the Palouse and its impact on arthropod conservation. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Environmental Science, University of Idaho.
Call, D. R. 1997. Microsatellite characteristics and population structure for two anurans (Rana luteiventris and Hyla regilla). Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Zoology, Washington State University.
Westover, K. M. 1995. The role of rhizosphere soil microorganisms in plant competition and coexistence. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Botany, Washington State University
Cassidy, K. M. 1991. Factors affecting the establishment of colonizing annuals: Theoretical and experimental studies. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Botany, Washington State University.
Novak, S. J. 1990. Multiple introduction and founder effects in Bromus tectorum L.: An analysis of Eurasian and North American populations. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Botany, Washington State University.
Ashley, J. 1988. Soil algal population and community biology: lLaboratory and field studies. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Botany, Washington State University.
Pierson, E. A. K. 1988. Limits to the distribution of Bromus tectorum in forests of eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Botany, Washington State University.
Pyke, D. A. 1983. Demographic responses of Bromus tectorum and seedlings of Agropyron spicatum to grazing by cricetids. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Botany, Washington State University.
Bookman, P. A. 1980. Interspecific competition between Bromus tectorum L. and Poa pratensis L. in eastern Washington. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Botany, Washington State University.