Leela Rao

Major Professor

Master of Environmental Management (MEM), Resource Ecology, Duke University, 1999
Batchelor of Arts (BA), Environmental Studies, Scripps College, 1997

I am currently researching the effects of nitrogen deposition on the soils and vegetation in the Joshua Tree National Park region of the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts. This research is broken into four categories:
1. Effects of increased nitrogen on the mineralization potential of arid soils across a deposition gradient.
2. Fate and transport of inorganic nitrogen in creosote-bush and pi�on-juniper shrublands.
3. Effects of the interactions between nitrogen deposition and precipitation variability on the production of exotic grasses and native forbs, and the implications for fire in the desert.
4. Simulation of biomass production in a creosote-bush shrubland invaded by exotic grasses using the biogeochemical model DAYCENT to determine the threshold of nitrogen deposition for stimulation of fire in the desert.

Allen, E.B., L.E. Rao, R.J. Steers, A. Bytnerowicz, and M.E. Fenn. 2007. Impacts of Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on Mojave Desert Vegetation and Soils. in R. H. Webb, L. F. Fenstermaker, J. S. Heaton, D. L. Hughson, E. V. McDonald, and D. M. Miller eds. The Mojave Desert: Ecosystem Processes and Sustainability. University of Nevada Press, Las Vegas.
Allen, E.B., P.J. Temple, A. Bytnerowicz, M.J. Arbaugh, A.G. Sirulnik and L.E. Rao. 2007. Patterns of understory biodiversity in mixed coniferous forests of southern California impacted by air pollution. TheScientificWorldJOURNAL 7(S1): 247-263.
Norton, S.B., L. Rao, G. Suter, and S.M. Cormier. 2003. Minimizing cognitive errors in site-specific causal assessments. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: 9(1)213-229.