Dr. Karen Holl
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Karen Holl (kholl at ucsc.edu) is a Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research focuses on understanding how local and landscape scale processes affect ecosystem recovery from human disturbance and using this information to restore damaged ecosystems. Her current research focuses in rain forests in Latin America and chaparral, grassland and riparian systems in California. She advises numerous public and private agencies on land management and restoration; recently she has been working to improve outcomes of the effort of the many large-scale tree growing campaigns. In 2008 she was selected as an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow and is committed to communicating with policy makers and the public. She teaches courses in restoration ecology, conservation biology, and environmental problem solving. She served as chair of the Environmental Studies Department and as the faculty director for the Ken Norris Center for Natural History at UC Santa Cruz. She is a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and the Ecological Society of America, and was the 2017 winner of the Theodore Sperry Award of the Society for Ecological Restoration. Her Primer of Ecological Restoration was published by Island Press in 2020.
Google scholar page |
Graduate Students
Georgia Vasey
Christina Blebea
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I am investigating whether prescribed burning can be an effective management tool for restoring California coastal prairies. Fire can benefit plant diversity in prairies by removing biomass and creating open habitat patches, recycling nutrients, and reducing woody encroachment. Yet, it can also potentially reinforce the invasive grass-fire cycle and release sequestered soil carbon into the atmosphere. I am conducting a large-scale survey pre- and post-burns in paired burned and unburned prairies to evaluate changes in vegetation, soil, and fuel characteristics. I am also testing methods on how to reintroduce annual forbs. California coastal prairies host over 300 native plant species, primarily consisting of forbs, however a staggering 40% of annual forbs are threatened or endangered. I am seeding locally collected rare and more common annual forb species into plots with and without burns at each location, as well as testing other microsite management methods like building mounds and swales (microtopographic heterogeneity) and applying an herbicide treatment.
I am researching insect-plant interactions in tropical forest restoration in Latin America. I am specifically interested in how myrmecochory facilitates succession in secondary forests. I hope to find seed dispersal of later successional trees by ants in my research in Costa Rica and potentially other restoration plots in Latin America. I am experimentally testing how ant communities impact succession. |
Past Lab Members
Fernando Morales de Rueda (Visiting Fulbright Scholar, 2025-2026), Ph.D. Candidate, University of Granada
Spencer Schubert (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-2026), Senior Ecologist, Applied Ecological Institute
Brook Constantz, (Ph.D. 2025). Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, University of California, Santa Cruz
Francis Joyce (Ph.D. 2024, Postdoctoral Fellow 2025). Restoration Research Coordinator. Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Restoration, University of California, Santa Barbara
Justin Luong (Ph.D. 2022). Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Josie Lesage (Ph.D. 2020): Environmental Science Instructor, Clark College
Andy J. Kulikowski II (Ph.D. 2020): Lecturer, Santa Clara University
Alicia Calle (Ph.D. 2019): R2A Strategy Advisor, The Nature Conservancy
J. Leighton Reid (Ph.D. 2013): Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech
Tara Cornelisse (Ph.D. 2013): Invertebrate Ecologist, NatureServe
Daniella Schweizer (Ph.D. 2012): Forest Restoration Consultant
Michael Vasey (Ph.D. 2012): Former Director, San Francisco Estuarine National Research Reserve (retired)
Rebecca Cole (Ph.D. 2009): Restoration Coordinator, Restor Platform and Forest Restoration Consultant
Prairie Moore (M.S. CSU Chico 2009): President, Environmental Division, NRM Corporation Environmental Services
Charles McClain (M.S. CSU Chico 2009): Associate Ecologist, HT Harvey & Associates
Martha Bonilla-Moheno (Ph.D. 2008): Professor, Insituto de Ecología, Xalapa, Mexico
Aaron Gabbe (Ph.D. 2007): Director, Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority/Riverside County Transportation Commission
Liba Pejchar (Ph.D. 2004): Professor, Colorado State University
Grey Hayes (Ph.D. 2002): Research and Education Coordinator, Swanton Ranch, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Felicia Orah Rein (Ph.D. 2000): Research Scientist, Ministry of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Department, Israel
Spencer Schubert (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-2026), Senior Ecologist, Applied Ecological Institute
Brook Constantz, (Ph.D. 2025). Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, University of California, Santa Cruz
Francis Joyce (Ph.D. 2024, Postdoctoral Fellow 2025). Restoration Research Coordinator. Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Restoration, University of California, Santa Barbara
Justin Luong (Ph.D. 2022). Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Josie Lesage (Ph.D. 2020): Environmental Science Instructor, Clark College
Andy J. Kulikowski II (Ph.D. 2020): Lecturer, Santa Clara University
Alicia Calle (Ph.D. 2019): R2A Strategy Advisor, The Nature Conservancy
J. Leighton Reid (Ph.D. 2013): Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech
Tara Cornelisse (Ph.D. 2013): Invertebrate Ecologist, NatureServe
Daniella Schweizer (Ph.D. 2012): Forest Restoration Consultant
Michael Vasey (Ph.D. 2012): Former Director, San Francisco Estuarine National Research Reserve (retired)
Rebecca Cole (Ph.D. 2009): Restoration Coordinator, Restor Platform and Forest Restoration Consultant
Prairie Moore (M.S. CSU Chico 2009): President, Environmental Division, NRM Corporation Environmental Services
Charles McClain (M.S. CSU Chico 2009): Associate Ecologist, HT Harvey & Associates
Martha Bonilla-Moheno (Ph.D. 2008): Professor, Insituto de Ecología, Xalapa, Mexico
Aaron Gabbe (Ph.D. 2007): Director, Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority/Riverside County Transportation Commission
Liba Pejchar (Ph.D. 2004): Professor, Colorado State University
Grey Hayes (Ph.D. 2002): Research and Education Coordinator, Swanton Ranch, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Felicia Orah Rein (Ph.D. 2000): Research Scientist, Ministry of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Department, Israel