Dr. Sally Koerner

Principle Investigator
Dr. Koerner is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the Biology Department. She investigates the processes that form and maintain plant communities with a large focus on disturbance and global change in grasslands. View her profile on Google Scholar.
​@SallyKoerner
Sally.Koerner@uncg.edu

Graduate Students

Alyssa Young

PhD Candidate

Alyssa is interested in the impacts of global change on biodiversity, and the restoration of ecosystems. Her work focuses on the role of legume-rhizobia symbioses in restoration of fire-dependent ecosystems, in structuring understory plant communities, and in enhancing N-fixation, productivity, and biodiversity. Alyssa also has projects exploring the impacts of resource limitation and physical disturbance on understory plant communities in fire-dependent longleaf pine savannas of North Carolina.

Morgan Frost

PhD Candidate

Morgan is interested in community dynamics and biodiversity, with a specific focus on the impacts of invasive species on native communities. She is working to understand how invasive species will affect native species in the rangelands of Montana and Wyoming, with the long term aim of determining how invasive species play a role in rangeland sustainability and longevity in the face of climate change.​

Kathryn Bloodworth

PhD Candidate

Kathryn is interested in how grassland plant communities are structured and maintained. Her work addresses the need to understand how the intensity of grassland disturbances, such as grazing and drought, influence insect herbivore-plant community interactions and how fire disturbance influences multiple ecosystem conservation outcomes in the mixed- and tall-grass prairies of the United States Great Plains.


Rosalie Terry

PhD Student

Rose is interested in understanding how global change impacts ecosystem function and biodiversity across trophic levels. Her current work takes place in the tallgrass prairie of the Konza LTER and investigates how plant and soil microbial communities transition between grazed and ungrazed stable states, and how global change drivers alter those pathways.
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​William Mann

Master's Student

Will is interested in delaying or offsetting the effects of global change, focusing especially on conservation and restoration of ecosystems. His master's thesis will focus on understanding the relationship between the paired effects of nutrient addition and drought on biomass and species composition of the Longleaf pine understory and arthropod populations. He also wants to understand the effects of nutrient additions on herbivory through a temporal experiment, in an effort to help with restoration of the LLP Savanna.

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Research Technicians

Sarah Gora

Completed Master of Science in Koerner Lab in Spring 2022
Sarah is interested in understanding plant trait responses to global change drivers and how this will alter large scale ecosystem services. Her work in the tallgrass prairie ecosystem in Kansas tackles the need for study of intraspecific trait variation, particularly in belowground traits.

​@SarahGora1
slgora@uncg.edu 
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Current Undergraduate Researchers
Additional undergraduate students not pictured:
Dalaina Brimecombe (Spring 2023 Graduate)
​Jessica Ford (Spring 2023 Graduate)
Ethan Isaac
Taylor Mcmahon
Lab Alumni
Koerner Lab undergraduate researchers have gone on to a wide range of careers. Some go on to science based jobs like LabCorp and others do something completely unrelated like aviation school! Many go on to further schooling like a masters in chemistry or environmental education, and we've even had a few go on to start a PhD in ecology!
-Shateanu' Bryant (Summer 2022)
​-Trontaye Black*(Fall 2021, Spring 2022): "Effects of nitrogen additions on mycorrhizal associations in Ambrosia psilostachya"
-Jordyn Brown* (Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022): "Analyzing the reproduction of the Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium, in a heatwave"
-Stephanie Russell (Fall 2021, Spring 2022)
-Natalie Sabiston* (Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022): "Impact of nutrient deposition on arthropod communities of the Longleaf pine savanna ecosystem"
-Natalie Swaim (Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022)
-Page Turner* (Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022): “The role of nutrient availability in determining insect community composition and herbivore leaf damage”; "Impact of burn frequency on arthropod communities in North Carolina Longleaf pine savannas"
-Kevin Xiong (Fall 2021, Spring 2022)
-Ashli Shell (Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Summer 2022)
-Aliyah Warris (Fall 2021, Spring 2022)
​-Zachary Bunch* ( Spring 2021, Summer 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022); Fall 2021 URCA Awardee: "Impacts of invasion on insect communities in Montanan rangelands"
-Ashley Jolin* (Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022): “Impacts of climate change-induced drought on invasion in rangeland communities”; "Impacts of germination and inoculation methods on the growth of Chamaecrista nictitans and Lespedeza hirta"; Spring 2021 URCA Awardee, Summer 2021 URCA Awardee
-Winniefred Huskins (Spring 2021)
-William Mann* (Spring 2020, Summer 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021): “Insect sampling in grasslands: How do common methods capture biodiversity”
-Kinza Hussain* (Summer 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021): “Culturing bacteria from legume root nodules- Exploring longleaf pine savanna symbioses”
-Laraib Rasool (Fall 2020, Spring 2021)
-Tessa Baker (Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021)
-Kathryn White (Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021)
-Lauren Vaile (Fall 2020, Spring 2021)
-Sarah Gora* (Spring 2020, Summer 2020, Fall 2020, M. S. Graduate Spring 2022): “Predicting legume nodulation rates from plant traits in longleaf pine savannas”
-Naomi Katanta (Fall 2020)
-Alyssa Williamson* (Spring 2020): “Using the legume rhizobia symbiosis to facilitate.restoration in longleaf pine savannas”; Summer 2020 URCA Rejected.
-Hawa Awo (Fall 2019)
-Kayla Hayes (Fall 2019)
-Katielyn Johnson* (Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Summer 2020): “Effects of invasion on insect plant communities in mixed grass prairie”; Summer      2020 URCA Awardee.
-Gwendolyn Rickmeyer (Fall 2019)
-Kennedy Maeder* (Fall 2018 & Spring 2019): “Explored how grazing impacts seedling survival and growth of 4 common understory plants in longleaf pine  savanna”
-Annette Varghese (Fall 2018; early college program)
-Jamie Phelphs* (Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019): “Explored how nitrogen availability impacts seedling survival and growth of Wiregrass”
​-Mariah Patton (technician Spring and Summer 2018)
-Dynah Sutton (Spring 2018 & Fall 2018)
-Tamara Paris-Davila (Summer 2018)
-Adrienne Powell* (Fall 2017 & Spring 2018)
-Leah James* (Fall 2017 & Spring 2018)
-Emily Milchaud (Fall 2017)
-Steph Figerle (Fall 2017)​

* indicate BIO499, independent research project.

 Click here to view Undergrad posters.
CONTACT:  
Dr. Sally Koerner
Sally.Koerner@uncg.edu 
(336) 334-5393
339 Eberhart Building