Project Grant 2411559

This $280,817 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports collaborative research to examine how interactions between wildfires and an emerging plant disease may permanently shift coastal forests to shrublands in the western U.S. The research team will apply an integrated approach of long-term monitoring, experimental manipulation, and modeling to: 1) quantify the sensitivity of forest-to-shrubland transitions to repeated fire and disease disturbances; 2) identify biogeochemical and disturbance-related factors that destabilize forests and stabilize shrublands; and 3) determine where and when these state shifts may occur across heterogeneous, rapidly changing landscapes. The 3-year project, awarded to the CAL Poly Corporation at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, aims to inform disease and fire management practices and create a diverse research network to mentor underrepresented students. No sub-awards are planned under this grant.