Rachel Keen

Research in the Ecohydrology lab focuses on the interaction between ecological and hydrological systems in open ecosystems, including grasslands, savannas, and shrublands. Open ecosystems around the world are experiencing shifts in vegetation cover (e.g., grassland to woodland) that have the potential to drastically alter landscape-scale water fluxes. Much of our current work explores how vegetation impacts soil structure and mediates water fluxes, both above- and below-ground. These water fluxes influence carbon and nutrient cycling, plant productivity, local water yield, and ecosystem responses to drought and other disturbance events. The work we do is highly interdisciplinary, utilizing methods and experimental approaches from plant ecophysiology, hydrology, soil science, and atmospheric science to explore how vegetation influences critical zone function in open ecosystems, particularly in the context of changing climate, land-use, and land-cover.