Research Themes

Interested in the full list of Spatial Ecology Lab publications? Find them here.

Invasive species biogeography

There is a negative relationship between native richness and non-native occurrence across community types and ecoregions (source)

We use invasive plants in the U.S. as a model system to understand biogeographical patterns. We are big fans of compiling and standardizing spatial data to support these analyses (e.g., Laginhas & Bradley 2022). Some example topics include: Using the invasion literature to estimate total numbers of invasive plants in the world (Laginhas et al. In press), documenting macroscale patterns of biotic resistance (Beaury et al. 2019), testing relationships between distribution and abundance (Cross et al. 2017), assessing range infilling of invasives relative to native plants (Bradley et al. 2015), and tracking the history of ornamental plant introductions (Fertakos et al. In Review). 

Plant invasion and climate change

The combined effects of nonnative species invasions (INV) and abiotic global environmental changes (GEC) are often negative but no worse than invasion impacts alone (Panel A). Combined effects of invasion and GEC are rarely additive; rather, they were equally likely to be more positive or more negative than expected from the stressors considered individually (Panel B). (source)

Interactions between different forms of global change have the potential to create a ‘double whammy’ effect on ecosystems. Our work in both basic and applied research aims to address knowledge gaps to improve environmental stewardship and ecosystem management. Some examples include: A survey of invasive species managers to identify concerns related to climate change (Beaury et al. 2020), a meta-analysis of interactions between invasive species and global change (invasive species impacts are more detrimental!; Lopez et al. 2022), developing recommendations for climate-smart invasive species policy (Bradley et al. In Press), and the role of the ornamental plant trade in facilitating plant invasions with climate change (Beaury et al. 2022. In review). Our lab also hosts the Northeast Regional Invasive Species & Climate Change (RISCC) Network, where we work to reduce the compounding effects of invasive species and climate change by synthesizing relevant science, sharing the needs and knowledge of managers, building stronger scientist-manager communities, and conducting priority research. 

plant invasion risk

Hotspots of plant invasion risk Numbers of plant species that are native to each ecoregion but are invasive elsewhere in the world. (Pfadenhauer et al. in Press)

The most effective way to minimize damage from invasions is to prevent the introduction of potentially problematic species. We aim to understand and predict the risk associated with introductions of plant species into new environments, leveraging a variety of lab-curated spatial datasets. Examples of this include: Projecting current and future invasion hotspots based on distribution (Allen & Bradley 2016) and abundance data (Evans et al., In Prep.), understanding risk associated with the biogeography of plants’ native ranges (Pfadenhauer et al., in press), assessing the effectiveness of existing risk assessment protocols (Kesler, 2021; Salva, In Prep.), and a series of ongoing impact assessments on range shifting (Rockwell-Postel et al., 2020; Coville et al., 2021; Salva et al., In Prep.) and sleeper invasive species (O’Uhuru et al. In Prep.).