Department News
Inés Ibáñez
- Assistant Professor
- Ph.D., Ecology, Duke University
- Ibáñez Lab
Contact information
- University of Michigan
2546 Dana Building
440 Church St
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1041 - Phone: (734) 615-8817
- Email: iibanez@umich.edu
Research interests
My major research interests focus on the current challenges that plant communities are facing in the context of global change, i.e. climate change, invasive species, and landscape fragmentation. These challenges are interconnected as they form the novel environment under which plants are growing. The fact that forest communities are highly dependent on recruitment dynamics makes the study of early demographic stages critical for understanding the impact of global change on the natural ecosystems around us.
To isolate these phenomena, I have directed my research at the recruitment of dominant tree species, from seed production to the sapling stage, including seed dispersal, germination, establishment and survival during the first years. This line of research covers a gap on the study of vegetation response to global change, where most work done has been on the basis of correlative approaches, e.g., climate envelopes. By focusing on the actual demographic responses of plant species to a changing environment, results from my work will be essential to forecast reliable vegetation changes under future climate scenarios.
