Our lab’s research centers on the impacts of global environmental change on terrestrial and marine ecosystems. This includes the effects of elevated carbon dioxide, climate change, fire, and biotic invasions on dryland and alpine ecosystems both in Utah and globally. We’ve recently begun a collaborative project to link western science and indigenous knowledge to produce resilient biological and cultural systems in the face of climate change. Our lab’s research bridges the fields of physiological, community, ecosystem, and landscape ecology as well as environmental biophysics. Some of the work aligns with mission-oriented agencies, supported by grants from Joint Fire Science, USDA, NASA, EPA/DOE, and the USGS. Other work is more theoretical and has been supported by the National Science Foundation.

Biography

Richard Gill developed an interest in ecology as a child while exploring the forests and seashores of Washington State. This attraction to wild places motivated Dr. Gill to study Conservation Biology as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University and to receive a PhD in Ecology from Colorado State University. His PhD research on plant-soil interactions in dryland ecosystems, supervised by Indy Burke, dovetailed well with his postodoctoral research on plant physiological ecology with Rob Jackson at Duke University. Dr. Gill returned home to Washington in his first faculty position at Washington State University.

Dr. Gill's research centers on the impacts of global environmental change on terrestrial ecosystems. This includes the effects of elevated carbon dioxide, climate change, fire, and biotic invasions on dryland and alpine ecosystems both in Utah and globally. His lab’s research bridges the fields of physiological, community, ecosystem, and landscape ecology as well as environmental biophysics. In 2008 he joined the faculty of his alma mater as an associate professor of biology. He teaches in Conservation Biology courses and in the general and honors education curriculum.