Our research program focuses on understanding the interaction of plants with the earth's surface. Plants need light, water and nutrients to grow and reproduce. Their success in capturing these resources will impact both the productivity of plant systems and the environment. Human interventions in plant systems can increase productivity, but also result in substantial changes to the environment.

Most of our projects integrate tools and perspectives from several academic disciplines, among them soil physics, soil fertility, landscape ecology, forestry, plant physiology, weed science, cropping systems ecology, and eco-hydrology. In conjunction with field investigations, we develop and apply simulation models at the field or landscape scales to integrate and assess system components. Through understanding and simulating plant-environment interactions, we hope to improve human use of plant-environment systems.