Mechanized agriculture and livestock production have transformed Iowa's flora to a degree that surpasses any other state. Today, Iowa's native vegetation persists only in tiny fragments in which both the quality and quantity of disturbances and interspecific interactions differ dramatically from those of the pre-US-settlement landscape.

How is it possible to preserve and, at least on a modest scale, restore the biological diversity of Iowa's pre-settlement landscape? A number of my students have used the framework of evolutionary ecology to address this question.

Publication and other projects

• King EG, Eckhart VM, Mohl EC (2008) Magnitudes and mechanisms of shoot-damage compensation in annual species of Iowa Linum (Linaceae). American Midland Naturalist. 159:200-213.

• Rian, Kathryn. 2006. Diurnal and landscape-dependent habitat use by whitetail deer in a fragmented agricultural landscape.
• Batterman, Sarah. 2005. Effects of population size, density, and isolation distance on Liatris aspera reproduction.
• Alward, Sarah E. 2003. Detecting the signature of plant invasions in the Iowa flora by analyzing herbarium records.
• Stein, Freya. 2003. Iowa coyotes and the mesopredator-release hypothesis.
• Shakir, Zainab. 2001. Predicting species-introduction success in reconstructed tallgrass prairie: effects of life history, planting methods, and management regime.
• Mohl, Emily. 2000. Geographic distribution and character variation in Iowa populations of Linum rigidumand Linum sulcatum: An analysis informed by competition theory.
• Freedberg, Rebecca, and Johanns, Heidi. 1998. Species richness increases above-ground productivity in reconstructed tallgrass prairie.