Botany Department - Plant Ecology Lab

Goals of the Wisconsin Plant Ecology Laboratory (PEL)

To gather reliable field data on vegetative composition and archive these carefully for later use and interpretation. We strongly believe in the importance of monitoring ecological change.
To compare, evaluate, and improve methods for sampling plant communities and the tools for analyzing these data.
To characterize ecological change in quantitative detail.
To identify the key drivers of ecological change, particularly those that threaten the persistence of native plant diversity.
To understand how these drivers act, alone and in combination.
To use this understanding to better conserve and restore natural communities and to inform and improve forest & wildlife management.
To increase public interest in, and understanding of, ecological change.

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