Dr. Brent Blair

Dr. Blair's research interests lie in the area of plant ecology, and he is particularly interested in the impact of disturbances on forested ecosystems. His previous research includes studying resource availability in a Nicaraguan tropical forest and understory plant distributions in a California redwood forest. Work in Nicaragua was carried out in a lowland tropical rainforest on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua and examined the influence of wildfires on soil nutrients and roots. More recently Dr. Blair has worked in redwood forests studying how fluctuations in plant resources (water, nutrients, light) may alter competitive dynamics between species and facilitate the invasion of exotic plants. Dr. Blair currently teaches Ecology (BIOL 250 and 251) for biology majors and Ecology and People (BIOL 120) and Life Lab I (BIOL 125) for non-majors.

Dr. Blair received a B.A. in economics from Princeton University in 1991. He earned a M.S. in 1994 and a Ph.D. in 2002, both from the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment. Prior to his current position at Xavier University, he worked as a University of California Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UC Santa Cruz.

Expertise

Plant Ecology