Mike Schuster

Continuing global environmental changes strongly alter plant community composition and ecosystem processes. Interactions between these global change factors can also have unexpected consequences for ecosystems structure and function. Consequently, my previous research includes experiments examining the combined influence of exotic plant invasions, climate change, and anthropogenic nitrogen deposition on community composition and ecosystems processes in grasslands and forests. I am broadly interested in how terrestrial plant communities respond to invasion and abiotic environmental change.

My current research focuses on novel control methods of common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) as part of the Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center