Dr. Scott R. Abella
Assistant Research Professor
Telephone: 702-895-5163
Office: GUA 3113
E-mail: scott.abella@unlv.edu
Website: http://faculty.unlv.edu/abellas2/
Education
- B.S. Grand Valley State University
- M.S. Clemson University
- Ph.D. Northern Arizona University
I earned my doctorate from the School of Forestry with the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University in 2005. My dissertation research included developing a landscape-scale soil and vegetation ecosystem classification in northern Arizona pine forests and synthesizing scientific information in forms useful for natural resource managers. I have been at UNLV since 2006 and have a joint appointment with the UNLV Public Lands Institute and Department of Environmental Studies. Our research focus areas include restoration ecology, fire ecology, plant ecology, and systematic reviews of scientific literature. We conduct applied research projects in both forests and deserts in southwestern states and work closely with resource managers of federal lands such as Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Desert National Wildlife Refuge, and Joshua Tree National Park. Examples of recent projects we have conducted include: assessing plant community condition at remote springs in the Sheep Mountains west of Las Vegas; re-measuring a plot network established in 1979 in the Newberry Mountains north of Laughlin, Nevada; monitoring post-fire succession on desert burns throughout Clark County; and determining the invasibility by exotic species of native plant communities that are candidates for desert burn revegetation. I work to engage students and faculty from across disciplines to conduct these diverse projects in collaboration with local managers of public lands.
- Abella, S.R. 2008. A systematic review of wild burro grazing effects on Mojave Desert vegetation, USA. Environmental Management 41:809-819.
- Craig, J.E., and S.R. Abella. 2008. Vegetation of grassy remnants in the Las Vegas Valley, southern Nevada. Desert Plants 24:16-23.
- Abella, S.R., and J.D. Springer. 2008. Canopy-tree influences along a soil parent material gradient in Pinus-ponderosa-Quercus gambelii forests, northern Arizona. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 135:26-36.
- Abella, S.R., W.W. Covington, P.Z. Fulé, L.B. Lentile, A.J. Sánchez Meador, and P. Morgan. 2007. Past, present, and future old growth in frequent-fire conifer forests of the western United States. Ecology and Society 12(2):16. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss2/art16/. 16 pp.
- Abella, S.R., J.D. Springer, and W.W. Covington. 2007. Seed banks of an Arizona Pinus ponderosa landscape: responses to environmental gradients and fire cues. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 37:552-567.
- Laughlin, D.C., and S.R. Abella. 2007. Abiotic and biotic factors explain independent gradients of plant community composition in ponderosa pine forests. Ecological Modelling 205:231-240.
- Abella, S.R., and B.W. Zimmer. 2007. Estimating organic carbon from loss-on-ignition in northern Arizona forest soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal 71:545-550.
- MacDonald, N.W., B.T. Scull, and S.R. Abella. 2007. Mid-spring burning reduces spotted knapweed and increases native grasses during a Michigan experimental grassland establishment. Restoration Ecology 15:118-128.
Recent Presentations
- Engel, E.C., S.R. Abella, and C.L. Lund. Seeding effectiveness and natural regeneration of Mojave Desert plant communities after 2005 wildland fires. Oral presentation at the 35th Natural Areas Association conference, Nashville, TN. 15 October 2008.
- Craig, D.J., J.E. Craig, and S.R. Abella. Exotic annual plant invasions and their relationships to roads and native perennial species in the Mojave Desert, southwestern USA. Poster presentation at the 35th Natural Areas Association conference, Nashville, TN. 15 October 2008.
- Abella, S.R. Plant recruitment in a northern Arizona ponderosa pine forest: testing seed- and leaf litter-limitation hypotheses. Poster presentation at the Fort Valley Centennial Conference, U.S. Forest Service, Flagstaff, AZ. 8 August 2008. (Winner of best conference poster award).
- Craig, J., S. Abella, J. Spencer, and A. Sprunger. The invasibility of riparian and upland areas surrounding springs at Desert National Wildlife Refuge. Oral presentation at the Lower Colorado River Basin riparian revegetation workshop, Southern Nevada Water Authority and Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee, Las Vegas Springs Preserve, Las Vegas, NV. 7 May 2008.
- Abella, S.R., and E.C. Engel. A regional chronosequence of fire succession and network of long-term monitoring plots. Oral presentation to resource managers of the Mojave Desert Initiative, Interagency Office, Las Vegas, NV. 26 March 2008.
- Abella, S.R. Smoke-cued emergence in plant species of a ponderosa pine forest: contrasting greenhouse and field results. Oral presentation at the Fire in the Southwest: integrating fire into management of changing ecosystems, Association for Fire Ecology conference, Tucson, AZ. 30 January 2008.
- Abella, S.R., and A.C. Newton. A systematic review of species selection and treatment effectiveness for revegetation in the Mojave Desert, USA. Oral presentation at the Ninth Biennial Conference of Research on the Colorado Plateau, Flagstaff, AZ. 31 October 2007.