Abundance Patterns of N Fixers

The ability of N fixers to bring new N into an ecosystem is first determined by their presence at a site. Along with collaborators across the globe, we are working to understand the large-scale distribution patterns of N fixers and the drivers of these patterns. Using large-scale datasets such as the U.S. Forest Inventory Analysis data, the Nutrient Network, the CoRRE network, and the GEx network, we assess the patterns of N-fixer abundances in forests and grasslands and the ecological drivers of these abundances. We also use global plant-trait databases to study the particularities of N-fixer seeds and their dispersers in an effort to understand how N fixers are dispersed to particular sites.