Anna Sala

Faculty/Staff Image Professor

Division of Biological Sciences
College of Forestry and Conservation
University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812

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

Personal Website: View Website

Current Position:

Professor, Division of Biological Sciences

Adjunct Professor, College of Forestry and Conservation

Education:

B.S. University of Barcelona (Spain), 1984
Ph.D. University of Barcelona (Spain), 1992

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

Languages:

Spanish
native/bilingual proficiency

Selected Publications:

Sala A, Piper F, Hoch G. 2010. Physiological mechanisms of drought-induced tree mortality are far from being resolved. New Phytologist. In press.

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

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. In press.

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. 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.

Peters GD, Sala A. 2008. Ponderosa pine reproductive output is sensitive to thinning and burning treatments. Can. J. For. Res. 38: 844-850

Kolb TE, Agee JK, Fulé PZ, McDowell NG, Pearson K, Sala A, Waring RH. 2007. Perpetuating old ponderosa pine. Forest Ecol. Manage. 249:141-157.2

Sala A, Verdaguer D, Vilà M. 2007. Sensitivity of the invasive geophyte Oxalis pes-caprae to nutrient availability and competition. Ann. Bot. 99: 637 - 645

Keeling EG, Sala A, DeLuca TH. 2006. Effects of fire-exclusion on forest structure and composition in unlogged ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests. Forest Ecol. Manage. 237:418-428.

DeLuca TH, Sala A. 2006. Frequent fire alters nitrogen transformations in natural Ponderosa Pine stands of the Inland Northwest. Ecology 87: 2511-2522

Sala A. 2006. Hydraulic compensation in Northern Rocky Mountain conifers: does successional position and life history matter? Oecologia 149:1-11

MacKenzie MD, DeLuca TH, Sala A. 2006. Fire exclusion and nitrogen mineralization in ponderosa pine ecosystems. Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry 38:952-961