Research Interests

I am broadly interested in the forces that regulate the abundance and diversity of species in nature. I study the role of species interactions (competition, facilitation), plant-soil feedbacks, spatial heterogeneity and disturbance in determining patterns in plant communites. I apply this understanding to address problems of invasive species, environmental change, and habitat restoration. I am also interest in how species functional traits, and trade-offs among traits, scale to influence ecological processes and system structure.

Currently I have four research projects. In the alpine tundra of Colorado and the French Alps, I am investigating plant-microbe-soil feedbacks to better understand patterns of plant coexistence and diversity patterns in these systems and to predict how they may shift due to environmental change. In western rangelands, I am examining how competitive interactions and biogeochemical effects may lead to the invasion and dominance of diffuse knapweed (a problematic exotic forb). I am also interested in the environmental dependencies of restoration, and whether we can predict when restoration actions may have surprising or unintended consequences due swiches (or collapses) to alternative states. I am starting a project in coastal grasslands in southern California to investigate the process of degradation and how trait combinations, dominance structures, and diversity lead to stability and function.

Degrees

Honors and Awards

Current Graduate Students

Current Post-docs

Recent Courses Taught

Links

http://culter.colorado.edu/~suding/

Recent Papers

Suding, K.N., J. Larson, E. Thorsos, H. Stelzer, and W. Bowman. 2004. Plant species effects on resource supply rates: do they influence competitive interactions? Plant Ecology, in press.

Suding, K.N., D.E. Goldberg, and K.M. Hartman. 2003. Relationships among species traits: separating levels of response and identifying linkages to abundance. Ecology 84: 1-16.

Suding, K. N. and D.E. Goldberg. 2001. Do disturbances alter competitive hierarchies? Mechanisms of change following gap creation. Ecology 82: 2133-2149.

Suding, K.N. 2001. The effects of gap creation on competitive interactions: separating changes in overall intensity from relative rankings. Oikos 94: 219-227.

Suding, K.N. 2001. The effect of spring burning on the competitive ranking of prairie species. Journal of Vegetation Science 12: 849-856.

Suding, K. N. and D.E. Goldberg. 1999. Variation in the effects of litter and vegetation across productivity gradients. Journal of Ecology 78:436-449.