Grassland, Shrubland and Desert Ecosystem Research Program

Nancy Shaw, Research Botanist
email: nshaw [at] fs.fed.us
phone: (208) 373-4360
fax: (208) 373-4391

Education
B.S., Zoology, Albertson College of Idaho
M.S., Botany, Idaho State University
Ph.D., Crop Science (Seed physiology and technology), Oregon State University
 

Research Interests
My primary research interests are in the impacts of invasive species and changing fire regimes on vegetation of the Great Basin, particularly sagebrush ecosystems, and the development and use of native plant materials for revegetating disturbed sites in this region. I work with collaborators and students in the Great Basin and surrounding states. An important facet of our work is with private sector seed growers.

Our invasive species research in Boise focuses on the ecology, population dynamics, and genetics of rush skeletonweed, an invasive exotic perennial invading disturbed plant communities of the northern Great Basin. We are examining its distribution, ecology, response to fire, and effects on fuel loading. Funding for this research is provided, in part, by the Joint Fire Sciences Program project "Changing Fire Regimes, Increased Fuel Loads, and Invasive Species: Effects on Sagebrush Steppe and Pinyon-Juniper Ecosystems" and National Fire Plan Project "Impacts of Exotic Weeds on Fuel Loading and Fire Regimes."

To increase seed supplies of native species, particularly forbs, and the technology for their use to revegetate burned areas and degraded rangelands in the Great Basin, I coordinate a collaborative research project between the USDI BLM Great Basin Restoration Initiative, the Shrubland Biology and Restoration Project and 10 major cooperators. Objectives of this group, the Great Basin Native Plant Selection and Increase Project, are to (1) increase the supply of native plant materials, particularly native forbs, available for restoration; (2) manage or restore seed sources on wildlands and develop technology to improve the diversity of introduced grass seedings; and (3) provide technology transfer. My research for this project focuses on several native forbs of the Great Basin.
 

Current Research Projects

Invasive Species

• Alterations in fuel loading of indigenous, weed-infested, and seeded plant communities in big sagebrush ecosystems following rush skeletonweed invasion

• Rush skeletonweed ecology and response to fire

• Soil carbon manipulation for control of annual weeds

Native Species

• Improving commercial availability of native forb seed for Great Basin restoration

• Ecology, seed germination, and seed sources of selected Great Basin forbs:  

• Winterfat seedling establishment and affecting factors on Idaho’s Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area