Another focus of my research program is aimed at restoration and conservation biology. I seek to better understand the population dynamics of both native and non-native species in population establishment and range expansion. I am also interested in the role of inbreeding and the expression of inbreeding depression on the design of conservation and restoration strategies. 

I spent part of a sabbatical in Australia collaborating with Dr. Andrew Young at CSIRO Plant Industry in Canberra. Andrew has been studying the reproductive biology of Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides (Asteraceaea), an endangered genetically self-incompatbile, herbaceous, perennial that occurs in natural grassland fragments of southeastern Australia. There are about 30 populations remaining varying in size from less than 100 to a thousand individuals in southern Australia. Population size is important because this species is self-incompatible there are even fewer mating types in a small versus a large population owing to a lack of S allele diversity. We conducted pollinator observations on 2 small and 2 large populations of R. leptorrhynchoides in the Canberra area to determine who the visitors were and their visitation patterns, within versus among plants in the study populations. We also performed a genetic rescue experiment where we augmented 2 small and 2 large female target populations with pollen from 2 small and 2 large male donor populations. Our overall goal is to determine if we can augment pollen diversity through introducing novel S alleles into the population via hand-pollinations to increase seed set in the field of this endangered species.