Cara Nelson

Ph.D. Forest Ecosystem Analysis. 2004. College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.

M.S. Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development. 1997. Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

M.S. Forestry. 1997. Department of Forest Ecology and Management, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

B.S. 1990. The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington.

Restoration Ecology Lab Website

Research in my lab focuses on two main areas: 1) the effects of large-scale disturbance, management activities, and environmental stress on forest vegetation, and 2) strategies for restoring native plant communities after disturbance. These topics are being explored at landscape, population, and organism scales, through field experiments, retrospective studies, and meta-analyses. My students and I are particularly interested in projects that both contribute to basic knowledge of plant and restoration ecology, and provide managers with timely information about efficacy and non-target effects of current practices. 

Specific areas of investigation include:

  
• Effects of forest restoration treatments on understory plant communities and ecosystem resilience;
  
• Post-disturbance acclimation potential of late-seral forest herbs; and
  
• Development and use of native plant materials for ecological restoration.

Schoennagel, T., C. R. Nelson, D. M. Theobald, G. C. Carnwath, and T. B. Chapman. 2009. Implementation of National Fire Plan treatments near the wild-land urban interface in the western United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Early edition: June 8).

Nelson, C.R., T. Schoennagel, and E. Gregory.  2008.  Opportunities for academic training in the science and practice of restoration within the United States and Canada. Restoration Ecology 16:225-230.

Nelson, C.R., C.B. Halpern, and J.K. Agee. 2008. Thinning and burning have little effect on native plant communities but promote low-level invasion by nonnative plants. Ecological Applications 18:762-770.

Nelson, C.R., C.B. Halpern, and J.A. Antos. 2007. Variation in responses of late-seral herbs to disturbance and environmental stress. Ecology 88:2880-2890.

Grant, J.B., J.D. Olden, Lawler, J.J, C.R. Nelson, and B. Silliman. 2007. Academic institutions in the United States and Canada ranked according to performance in the field of Conservation Biology. Conservation Biology 21:1139-1144.

Lawler, J.J, J.E. Aukema, J.B. Grant, B. Halpern, P. Kareiva, C.R. Nelson, J.D. Olden, K. Ohleth, M.A. Schlaepfer, B. Silliman, and P. Zaradic. 2006. Conservation science: a twenty-year report card. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4:473-480.

Nelson, C.R. and C.B. Halpern. 2005. Edge-related responses of understory plants to aggregated retention harvest in the Pacific Northwest. Ecological Applications 15(1):196-209.

Nelson, C.R. and C.B. Halpern. 2005. Short-term effects of timber harvest and forest edges on ground-layer bryophytes in the Pacific Northwestern United States. Canadian Journal of Botany 83: 610-620.

Nelson, C.R. and C.B. Halpern. 2005. Short-term responses of vascular plants and bryophytes in forest patches retained during structural retention harvest. In: Peterson, C. E. and Maguire, D. A., eds. Balancing ecosystem values: innovative experiments for sustainable forestry. PNW-GTR-635. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Pages 366-368.

Schlaepfer, M.A., J. E. Aukema, J. Grant, B. Halpern, J. Hoekstra, P. Kareiva, J. Lawler, J. C. Manolis, C. R. Nelson, J. D. Olden, B. Silliman, S. Stephens, J. Wiens, and P. Zaradic. 2005. Re-wilding: a bold plan that needs native megafauna. Nature 437:951.