My lab focuses on the role that biodiversity plays in different ecosystems. Does biodiversity help buffer against some of the most negative effects of climate change? Why are higher diversity communities more resilient to drought?

I focus on the facilitative interactions between neighboring plant species that may improve plant community performance. For example, some drought resistant plant species may be capable of photosynthesizing even on very hot and dry days. Other species may experience water stress and turn off their photosynthetic apparatus. When plants are photosynthesizing they lose water, and this cools the air around them, due to evaporative cooling. This can improve the microclimate conditions of their neighbors. Higher diversity plant communities may harbor more strategies for dealing with environmental stress. In some cases, the plants that possess these strategies may physically alter the environment in such a way that makes local microclimate conditions hospitable for neighboring individuals and improves overall plant community performance.

2024:

• Huynh, A., Aguirre, B., English, J., Guzman, D., Wright, A.J. 2024. Atmospheric drying and soil drying; differential effects on grass community composition. Global Change Biology 30(10: e17106.
• Novick, K., Ficklin, D.L., Grossiord, C., Konings, A.G., Martinez-Vilalta, J., Sadok, W., Trugman, A.T., Park Williams, A., Wright, A.J., Abatzoglou, J.T., Dannenberg, M.P., Gentine, P., Guan, K., Johnston, M.R., Lowman, L., Moore, D., McDowell, N.G. 2024. The impacts of rising vapour pressure deficit in natural and managed ecosystems. Plant, Cell & Environment. DOI: 10.1111/pce.1484
• Wright, A.J. 2024. Plant-plant interactions can mitigate (or exacerbate) hot drought impacts. New Phytologist 241(3): 955-957.
• Wright, A.J., Collins, S.L. 2024. Drought experiments need to incorporate atmospheric drying to better simulate climate change. BioScience 74(1): 65-71.

2023:

• Dee, L., Loreau, M., Clark, A., Byrnes, J., Hector, A., Cowles, J., Mori, A., Seabloom, E., Wright, A.J., Hautier, Y., Gonzalez, A., O’Connor, M., Pigot, A., Trisos, C. 2023. Challenges and solutions for causal inference in ecological research: A case study with biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships. Nature Communications 14(1): 2607.
• Isbell, F., Balvanera, P, Mori, A.S., He, J., Bullock, J.M., Ram Regmi, G., Seabloom, E., Ferrier, S., Sala, O.E., Wright, A.J., et al. 2023. Expert estimates of biodiversity loss and its drivers and consequences. Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment 21(2): 94-103.
• Ramirez, C.**, Wright, A.J. Accepted at Plant & Soil. Microclimate and growth advantages in the ‘Three Sisters’ planting food system.
• Watson, S.**, Aguirre, B.**, Wright, A.J. 2023. Leaf and root functional traits respond to atmospheric and soil drought conditions in a California native grass experiment. Ecology e4109.
• Wright, A.J., Collins, S. Accepted at Bioscience. Drought experiments need to incorporate atmospheric drying to better simulate climate change.

2022:

• English, J.**, Wright, A.J. 2022. The effect of urban environments on the diversity of plants in unmanaged grasslands in Los Angeles, CA. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 10:921472.
• Nimgaonkar, A., Mughal, A., Heimer, H., Nimgaonkar, V., Greenstein, D., Wright, A.J. 2022. Exploring static and dynamic relationships between United States burden of disease and research funding. Health Research Policy and Systems.

2021:

• Aguirre, B.**, Hsieh, B.**, Watson, S.**, Wright, A.J. 2021. The experimental manipulation of atmospheric drought: teasing out the role of microclimate in biodiversity experiments. Journal of Ecology: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13595 (Recommended 3x by Faculty 1000)
• English, J.**, Wright, A.J. 2021. The effect of urban temperature gradients on grassland microcliamte amelioration in Los Angeles, CA. Journal of Applied Vegetation Science 24: e12556.
• Mori, A., Dee, L.E., Gonzalez, A., Cowles, J., Wright, A.J., Loreau, M., Hautier, Y., Newbold, T., Reich, P.B., Matsui, T., Ohashi, H., Okada, K., Seidl, R., Isbell, F. 2021. Tree diversity provides a nature-based climate solution. Nature Climate Change 11(6): 543-550.
• O’Connor, M., Mori, A., Gonzalez, A., Loreau, M., Avolio, M., Byrnes, J.E.K., Cheung, W., Cowles, J., Clark, A., Dee, L.E., Hautier, Y., Hector, A., Komatsu, K., Newbold, T., Outhwaite, C., Reich, P., Seabloom, E., Williams, L., Wright, A.J., Isbell, F. 2021. Six grand challenges for biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research in the era of science-policy platforms. Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
• Wright, A.J., Lortie, C., Barry, K.B., Callaway, R. 2021. Editorial: Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: have our experiments and indices been underestimating the role of facilitation? Journal of Ecology 109(5): 1962-1968.
• Wright, A.J., Mommer, L., Barry, K., van Rujven, J. 2021. Stress gradients and biodiversity: monoculture vulnerability drives stronger biodiversity effects during drought years. Ecology 102(1): e03193. (Recommended by Faculty 1000)
• Yu, R.P., Lambers, H., Callaway, R., Wright, A.J., Li, L. 2021. Belowground facilitation and trait matching: two or three to tango? Trends in Plant Science DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2021.07.014

Previous positions

• 2023-2024 Associate Professor, Biological Sciences, California State University Los Angeles
• 2017-2023 Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, California State University Los Angeles
• 2015-2017 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Science & Mathematics, FIT (SUNY).
• 2014-2015 Visiting Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biology, Bard College.
• 2013-2014 Postdoctoral Research Associate, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv). Leipzig, Germany.
• 2013 Visiting Professor, Sarah Lawrence College, NY.

Education

• Ph.D. 2013. Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI.
• B.A. 2005. Department of Biology, Beloit College, Beloit, WI

Grants and awards

• 2024 NSF LTER Supplement grant ($25,000)
• 2023 NSF LTER Supplement grant ($35,000)
• 2022 NSF CAREER grant (PI, $976,464)
• 2022 Swiss National Science Foundation (co-PI $25,000)
• 2021 CSULA Student Research & Scholarship Fund ($21,000)
• 2020 USDA Hispanic Serving Institutions Grant (co-PI, $275,000)
• 2020 CSUPERB New Investigator Award ($15,000)
• 2010-2013 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship: ($90,000)