Department of Plant Plathology and Microbiology @ UCR

My research is concentrated on understanding the effects of human activities on ecosystem biodiversity and functioning. As the human population expands, population centers emerge and shift, and resources are extracted and utilized. I have focused on three areas. First, I have undertaken efforts to describe the impacts of human activities on wildlands, from land disturbance, transportation, and agriculture to the changing global environment. Specifically, I have worked on documenting the spatial and temporal effects of perturbations on soil organisms and soil resources. In this context, I have focused on direct disturbance (such as mining, harvesting), elevated CO2, climate, and pollution. Second, I have worked to document how natural succession proceeds to learn lessons that can be applied in ecosystem restoration. This has entailed research on Mount St. Helens, Alaskan Glaciers, mines, roadways, and tropical forest management. We focused on utilizing spatial structure to enhance recovery of soil organisms, and, incorporating these organisms to stabilize natural fertility and soil structure. Specifically, we can use spatial variability and plant architecture to harvest wind-blown microbes, or create conditions on which animals will key in to enhance natural immigration and establishment of beneficial microorganisms. Finally, I have begun working on developing ways to bring ecological science into the decision-making process. I have worked on interagency efforts to incorporate ecosystem management approaches into environmental decisions at the federal level. More recently, I have worked with the County of Riverside and southern California regional agencies on multiple species habitat conservation (MSHCP) planning efforts. Please visit the web page for my lab for more information.

PAPERS FROM 2008:

Barrows, C.W., E.B. Allen, M.L. Brooks and M.F. Allen. On-Line. Effects of an invasive plant on a desert sand dune landscape. Biological Invasions (2008) doi 10.1007/s10530-008-9282-6.

Barrows, C.W. and M.F. Allen. In press. Conserving species in fragmented habirtats: Population dynamics of the flat-tailed horned lizard, Phrynosoma mcallii. Southwest Naturalist.

Barrows, C.W., K.L. Preston, J.T. Rotenberry, and M.F. Allen. 2008. Using occurrence records to model historic distributions and estimate habitat losses for two psammophilic lizards. Biological Conservation 141: 1885-1893.

Chen, X., B.-L. Li, and M.F. Allen. In press. Characterizing urbanization, agricultural and conservation land use change in Riverside County, California, USA. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Egerton-Warburton, L.M., J.I. Querejeta, and M.F. Allen. 2008. Efflux of hydraulically lifted water from mycorrhizal fungal hyphae during imposed drought. Plant Signaling and Behavior 3: 68-71.

Goode, L.K., and M.F. Allen. In press. The impacts of Hurricane Wilma on the epiphytes of El Eden Ecological Reserve, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Club.

Preston, K.L., J.T. Rotenberry, R.A. Redak, and M.F. Allen. In press. Habitat shifts of endangered species under altered climate conditions: Importance of biotic interactions. Global Change Biology.

Vargas, R. and M.F. Allen. 2008. Diel patterns of soil respiration in a tropical forest after Hurricane Wilma. Journal of Geophysical Research 11 G03021. 10pgs

Vargas, R. and M.F. Allen. 2008. Dynamics of fine root, fungal rhizomorphs and soil respiration in a mixed temperate forest: Integrating sensors and observations. Vadose Zone Journal 7: 1055-1064.

Vargas, R. and M.F. Allen. 2008. Environmental controls and the influence of vegetation type, fine roots and rhizomorphs on diel and seasonal variation in soil respiration. New Phytologist 179: 460-471.

Vargas, R., M.F. Allen, and E.B. Allen. 2008. Biomass and carbon accumulation in a fire chronosequence of a seasonally dry tropical forest. Global Change Biology 14: 109-124.

PAPERS FROM 2007:

Allen, M.F. 2007. Mycorrhizal fungi: highways for water and nutrients in arid soils. Vadose Zone Journal 6: 291-297.

Allen, M.F., R. Vargas, E. Graham, W. Swenson, M. Hamilton, M. Taggart, T.C. Harmon, A. Rat'ko, P. Rundel, B. Fulkerson, and D. Estrin. 2007. Soil sensor technology: Life within a pizel. BioScience 57: 859-867.

Barrows, C.W. and M.F. Allen. 2007. Biological monitoring and bridging the gap between land management and science. Natural Areas Journal 27: 194-197.

Barrows, C.W. and M.F. Allen. 2007. Community complexity: stratifying monitoring schemes within a desert sand dune landscape. Journal of Arid Environments 69: 315-330.

Barrows, C.W. and M.F. Allen. In Press. Conservation implications of fragmentation in desert ecosystems. In R. H. Webb (ed.) The Mohave Desert Science Symposium.

Barrows, C.W. and M.F. Allen. 2007. Persistence and local extinctions of endangered lizard Uma inornata on isolated habitat patches. Endangered Species Research 3: 61-88.

Egerton-Warburton, L.M., J.I. Querejeta, and M.F. Allen. 2007. Common mycorrhizal networks provide a potential pathway for the transfer of hydraulically lifted water between plants. Journal of Experimental Botany 58: 1473-1483.

Hamilton, M., E.A. Graham, P.W. Rundel, M.F. Allen, W. Kaiser, M.H. Hansen, and D.L. Estrin. 2007. New approaches in embedded networked sensing for terrestrial ecological observatories. Environmental Engineering Science 24: 192-204.

Querejeta, J.I., M.F. Allen, M.M. Alguacil, and A. Roldan. 2007. Plant isotopic composition provides insight into mechanisms underlying growth stimulation by AM fungi in a semiarid environment. Functional Plant Biology 34: 683-691.

Querejeta, J.I., L.M. Egerton-Warburton, and M.F. Allen. 2007. Hydraulic lift may buffer rhizosphere hyphae against the negative effects of severe soil drying in a California oak savanna. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 39: 409-417.

Querejeta, J.I., H. Estrada-Medina, M.F. Allen, and J.J. Jimenez-Osornio. 2007. Water source partitioning among trees growing on shallow karst soils in a seasonally dry tropical climate. Oecologia 152: 26-36.

Sirulnik, A.G., E.B. Allen, T. Meixner, and M.F. Allen. 2007. Impacts of anthropogenic N additions on nitrogen mineralization from plant ltiter in exotic annual grasslands. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 39: 24-32.

Surilnik, A.G., E.B. Allen, T. Meixner, M.E. Fenn, and M.F. Allen. 2007. Changes in N cycling and microbial N with elevated N in exotic annual grasslands of southern California. Applied Soil Ecology 36: 1-9.

Zimmer, K., M.A. Hynson, G. Gebauer, E.B. Allen, M.F. Allen, and D.J. Read. 2007. Wide geographic and ecological distribution of nitrogen and carbon gains from fungi in pyroloids and monotropoids (Ericaceae) in orchids. New Phytologist 175: 166-175.

PAPERS FROM 2006:

Michael F. Allen and Kristine L. Preston (October 27, 2006) Core 2 Refinement Workshop Report

Allen, M.F. 2006. Water dynamics of mycorrhizas in arid soils. In: Fungi in biogeochemical cycles. G.M. Gadd, editor, pp74-97. Cambridge University Press

Barrows, C.W., M.F. Allen and J.T. Rotenberry. 2006. Boundary processes between a desert sand dune community and an encroaching suburban landscape. Biological Conservation 131: 486-494

Chen, X., B.-L. Li, T. Scott, and M.F. Allen. 2006. Tolerance analysis of habitat loss for multispecies conservation in western Riverside County, California, USA. International Journal of Biodiversity Science and Management 2: 87-96.

Querejeta, J.I. H. Estrada-Medina, M.F. Allen, J.J. Jimenez-Osornio, and R. Ruenes. 2006. Utilizaqtion of bedrock water by Brosimum alicastrum trees growing on shallow soil atop limestone in a dry tropical climate. Plant and Soil 287: 187-197.

Querejeta, J.I., M.F. Allen, F. Caravaca, and A. Roldan. 2006. Differential modulation of host plant d13C and d18O by native and non-native arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a semiarid environment. New Phytologist 169: 379-387.

Scott, T.A., L. Fernandez, and M.F. Allen. 2006. Land use planning and the Endangered Species Act, p. 318-332, in Goble, D.D., Scott, J.M., and Davis, F.W. (eds), The Endangered Species Act at Thirty: Renewing the Conservation Promise, Volume II. Island Press, Washington, DC.