Dr Mayfield

Dr. Margie Mayfield

My research broadly focuses on the effects of human activities on plant communities. More specifically my research falls into three categories:

1) Community assembly theory, particularly as it relates to understanding how plant communities in human-altered systems differ from the communities they replace.

2) Effects of agricultural production on native plants, insects and their interactions.

3) The role of life-history strategies in maintaining plant species under habitat fragmentation and climate change.

My research in the first category includes field-based studies of plant species and functional diversity and theoretical studies of community assembly.

In the second category, my research covers two subtopics. First, I am interested in how landscape structure and agricultural practices impact the pollination of crops by native insects. Second, I am interested in the types of native species that can survive in agricultural matrix habitats in the tropics.

My research in the third category has to date focused on annual plant species in Mediterranean grass and shrub land communities. I am primarily interested in how life-history traits, such as germination strategy, growth form, breeding system and dispersal mechanism contribute to plant species’ abilities to persist locally or shift their ranges under “rapidly” changing environmental conditions. These “rapidly” changing conditions include human-induced climate change at the slow end and fragmentation and the introduction of exotic species on the fast end. Within the context of this research I study both evolutionary and ecological processes.

Name: Margie Mayfield

Position: Lecturer in Plant Ecology

PhD: Stanford University (2005)

Undergraduate: Reed College (1998)

Collaborative Projects