Dr. Kari E. Veblen
Kari Veblen is an associate professor of rangeland ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University. Kari received her PhD in ecology from University of California-Davis and was a post-doc with the USGS in Corvallis, OR. She is an ecologist with broad interests, including livestock-wildlife-plant interactions, plant community ecology, grazing ecology, and restoration ecology. Current field site locations include the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau, USA, and Kenya, East Africa.
Kyle Nehring, 
​PhD Student
​
Kyle is studying large ungulate effects on rangeland plant communities. She is using long-term exclosures, as well as field experiments to test interactive effects of browsing and soil properties on sagebrush plants. Her research is funded primarily by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
​​Abdullahi Ali, 
​Post-doc
​
Dr. Ali completed his PhD at U. Wyoming on resource selection and population dynamics of the highly endangered​ hirola antelope in Kenya. At USU he is building on that research, studying how best​ to restore hirola habitat.​​
​Sofia Koutzoukis,
PhD Student
​
Sofia is working on a USDA NIFA-funded project investigating pre-emptive, high input restoration of sagebrush rangelands in the Intermountain West. She is focusing on canopy-interspace dynamics and the consequences of those dynamics for plant community structure and spatial distributions.
Liz Bailey,
MS student
​
Liz’s research focuses on the establishment of restoration islands. She is testing different approaches to establishing islands of sagebrush to restore sage-grouse habitat in southern Idaho.​​​
​Lab Alumni

Grad students
Merran Owen, MS (2020; co-advised with Dr. Tom Monaco): ​"Effects of biocrust development on establishment of native plants in a salt desert system"
Eric LaMalfa, (Quinney Fellow), PhD (2018): “Fire-herbivory interactions in an East African savanna: effects on Acacia drepanolobium and the demographic bottleneck”
Brittany Duncan, MS (2018; co-advised with Dr. Karin Kettenring): “Impacts of cattle grazing as a tool to control Phragmites australis in wetlands on nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon”
Lacey Wilder, MS (2016; co-advised with Dr. Tom Monaco): "Assessment of restoration seedings on Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative project sites"
​Rebecca Mann, MS (2016): “Intraspecific variation in the response of Elymus elymoides to competition from Bromus tectorum”
Maike Holthuijzen (NSF Graduate Research Fellow), MS (2015): “Grass-shrub spatial associations over precipitation and grazing gradients in the Great Basin”

Post-docs
Corinna Riginos (2016 - 2017)
Huiqin He (2015 - 2016; co-advised with Dr. Tom Monaco)
Lin Liu (2014 - 2015; co-advised with Dr. Tom Monaco)

Undergraduate researchers
Elise Riley (2019 - present; co-advised with Dr. Julia Burton)
Amberlee Burrows (2016)
Justin Taylor (2015 - 2017; co-advised with Dr. Juan Villalba & Dr. Eric Thacker)
Lacey Wilder (2015)
Sara Germain (2014 - 2016)
Trec Reed (2014 - 2015)
Hope Braithwaite (2013 - 2015; co-advised with Dr. Juan Villalba & Dr. Eric Thacker)
Tim Bateman (2013 - 2015; co-advised with Dr. Juan Villalba & Dr. Eric Thacker)
Brittany Duncan (2013-2014)
Current collaborators
​
​Jacopo Baggio (UCF)
Janis Boettinger (USU)
Colby Brungard (NMSU)
Mark Brunson (USU)
Mike Duniway (USGS)
Karin Kettenring (USU)
Tom Monaco (USDA-ARS)
Beth Newingham (USDA-ARS)
Lauren Porensky (USDA-ARS)
Dave Pyke (USGS)
Corinna Riginos (TNC)
Eric Thacker (USU)
Juan Villalba (USU)
Truman Young (UC Davis)