Home > Personnel > Sala

Anna Sala

Professor

Division of Biological Sciences
College of Forestry and Conservation
32 Campus Drive
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812

Office: NATURAL SCIENCES 117A
Phone: (406) 243-6009
sala@mso.umt.edu

Website: http://sala-lab.dbs.umt.edu
Curriculum Vitae: View/Download CV

Office Hours:

---

About
Publications

Education

B.S. University of Barcelona (Spain), 1984<br />Ph.D. University of Barcelona (Spain), 1992

Courses Taught

Plant Physiology (BIOO 433, 434)

Physiological Plant Ecology (BIOO 524)

Introduction to Botany (BIOO 105)

Teaching Experience

---

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in plant resource allocation and its implications on plant life history traits and performance in the field. Within this general framework, my students, collaborators and I have engaged in different research adventures. We have examined the interaction of hydraulic, physiological and structural traits in different conifer species and habitats in Northern Rocky Mountain forests. We are also exploring whether and how internal resource dynamics influence life history strategies in plants (e.g. masting and prolonged dormancy). Another major focus in our lab has been the analysis of the consequences of fire exclusion and active forest management on forest structure and function in mixed ponderosa pine forests. While the initial focus of this research was to examine tree responses to alterations in resource availability, we have also done work on how past management has influenced current forest structure. I am becoming very interested in the interaction between plant resource allocation (including to storage) and responses to drought.

Field of Study

Plant physiological ecology

Tree Physiology

Forest Ecology

Affiliations

---

Specialized Skills

---

Professional Experience

---

International Experience

---

Honors / Awards

---

Hobbies

---

Selected Publications

(Recent and Selected)

Sala A. Hopping K, McIntire EJB, DelzonS, Crone EE. 2012. Masting in whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) depletes stored nutrients. New Phytologist 196: 189–199.

Sala A, Woodruff DW, Meinzer FR.2012.Carbon dynamics in trees: feast or famine? Tree Physiology 32: 764-775.

Keeling EG, Sala A. 2012. Changing growth response to wildfire in old-growth ponderosa pine trees in montane forests of North Central Idaho. Global Change Biology 18:117-1126.

LloretF, Eric Keeling EG. Sala A. 2011. Components of tree resilience: effects of successive low-growth episodes in old ponderosa pine forests. Oikos 120:1909-1920.

Keeling EG, Sala A, DeLuca TH. 2011. Lack of fire has limited physiological impact on old-growth ponderosa pine in dry montane forests of North Central Idaho, USA. Ecological Applications 21: 3227-3237.

Sala A, Founts W, Hoch G. 2011.Carbon storage in trees: does relative carbon supply decrease with tree size? In: Meinzer FC, Lachenbruch B, Dawson TE (eds). Size- and age-related changes in tree structure and function. Springer, Dordrecht. pp: 287-306.

Delzon S, DoutheC, Sala A, Cochard H. 2010. Mechanism of water-stress induced cavitation in conifers: bordered pit structure and function support the hypothesis of seal capillary-seeding. Plant, Cell and Environment 33:2101-2111.

Gremer JR, Sala A, Crone EE. 2010. Disappearing plants: why they hide and how they return. Ecology 91: 3407-3413.

Naficy CE, Sala A, Keeling EG, Graham, J, Deluca TH. 2010. Strong effects of historical logging: fire exclusion alone does not explain contemporary forest structure. Ecological Applications. 20: 1851-1864.

Sala A, Piper F, Hoch G. 2010. Physiological mechanisms of drought-induced tree mortality are far from beingresolved. New Phytologist 186:274-281.

Verdaguer D. Sala A, Vilà M. 2010. Effect of environmental factors and bulb mass on the invasive geophyte Oxalis pes-caprae development. Acta Oecologica 36:92-99.

Crone EE, Miller E, Sala A. 2009. How do plants know when other plants are flowering? Resource depletion, pollen limitation and mast-seeding in a perennial wildflower. Ecology Letters 11:1119-26. Science Editor Choice (Nov. 27, 2009). Faculty of 1000 Biology.

Sala A. 2009. Lack of direct evidence for the carbon-starvation hypothesis to explain drought-induced mortality in trees. PNAS 106 (26) E68. doi:10.1073/pnas.0904580106

Sala A, Hoch G. 2009. Height-related growth declines in ponderosa pine are not due to carbon limitation. Plant, Cell and Environment. 32:22-30. Faculty of 1000 Biology.

Carey EV, Sala A, Keane RB, Callaway RM. 2001. Are old growth forests underestimated as global carbon sinks? Global Change Biology. 7:339-344.

Piñol J, Sala A. 2000. Ecological implications of xylem embolism of several Pinnaceae of NW United States. Functional Ecology 14:538-545.

Sala A, Smith SD, Devitt DA. 1996. Water use by Tamarix ramosissima and associated phreatophytes in a Mojave Desert floodplain. Ecological Applications 6: 888-898.

Sala A, Tenhunen JD. 1996. Simulation of net canopy photosynthesis and transpiration in Quercus ilex L. under the influence of seasonal drought. Agricultural and Forest Meteorolology 78: 203-222

Tenhunen JD, Sala Serra A, Harley PC, Reynolds JF, Dougherty RL. 1990. Factors influencing carbon fixation and water use by Mediterranean sclerophyll shrubs during summer drought. Oecologia 82: 381-393.