People and Interests

Brian Maricle

Link to Maricle Lab

Contact brmaricle@fhsu.edu

My students and I study ways plants respond to the environment, especially conditions of drought, salinity, and flooding. The environment is rarely at optimum levels for plant growth, so there are strong selective pressures on plants to optimize exchange of water, heat, oxygen, and carbon dioxide with the environment. I am interested in anatomical, physiological, and biochemical responses of plants to these conditions, and relating these properties to ecological questions.

My role in this project centers on functional differences in the plants. My students and I study photosynthetic rates and efficiencies in the plants at different sites, as well as leaf structure and water potential in relation to climate.

Jake Olsen (MS student)

Research Interests: Plant physiological differences among ecotypes

Contact jake.t.olsen@gmail.com

Keri Caudle (Undergrad Researcher)

A native of North-Central Texas, is a biology undergraduate at Fort Hays State University. She currently studies the effects of environmental stresses on plant processes. Her specific interests include the relationship between plant physiology and conservation biology. Joining in Summer 2011, Keri will be conducting research at the Hays and Colby, Kansas sites studying differences in water potential and trichome densities of bluestem ecotypes.