In forests, soil microbial, chemical, and physical legacies can accumulate over a tree’s lifetime and influence the regeneration of future seedlings. Our lab combines greenhouse experiments, field studies, and long-term forest plots to understand how plant–soil feedbacks shape forest community dynamics, tree regeneration, and forest change.

Current funded projects focus on oak regeneration failure in upland Appalachian forests, including how mycorrhizal associations, soil microbial communities, light, fire history, and understory conditions influence seedling establishment. More broadly, we investigate how plant–soil feedbacks contribute to tree species diversity, forest composition, species range shifts, and invasion dynamics across contrasting forest communities.
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We welcome new collaborations as we seek to understand plant–soil feedbacks across diverse forest types and apply this work to forest regeneration and management challenges.