Travis Bean
Title:
Principal Research SpecialistArea of Expertise:
Plant ecology, range management, bufflegrass control, native vegetation restoration
I am currently spearheading an effort to facilitate buffelgrass control in Southern Arizona. My work is focused on raising awareness about buffelgrass among the public, policy makers, and land managers, as well as on coordination and implementation of actual on-the-ground control of buffelgrass on Tumamoc Hill and other parts of the Tucson Basin. My research interests are mostly centered on plant population ecology and the ecology of plant invasions. Specifically, I am interested in how seed dispersal and seed banks affect the distribution of species across fragmented landscapes, how climate affects the emergence and persistence of species in harsh environments, how climate and surrounding landscape condition affect recovery rates and successional trends in severely disturbed habitats, and in developing climate-based phenological models of invasives facilitate their management. Some of my current projects include:
- Evaluating differences in seedbank richness and density between buffelgrass infested and uninfested sites
- Monitoring the native seedbank response to buffelgrass control on infested sites
- Mapping buffelgrass infestations in the greater Tucson region
- Large-scale restoration of abandoned agriculture fields in the Southern Arizona
- Assessing patterns and rates of native vegetation recovery on abandoned agriculture fields Southern Arizona
- Evaluating the buffelgrass germination fraction in response to varying temperature and precipitation
