Lunch with a Scientist is an ongoing monthly lecture series at Cedar Creek. Each month, scientists present a general-audience lecture about their work at or related to Cedar Creek and take questions from the audience.
The series has been running since January 2019 as an in-person program. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was shifted online in April 2020, from which point recordings are available. Programs take place on the second Tuesday of each month (11:30am central time), either in-person at Cedar Creek, via zoom, or both. Details about speakers and delivery mode are at
https://cbs.umn.edu/cedarcreek/public-programs/lunch-scientist
Plants are faced with a range of enemies, such as herbivores and fungal parasites. Invasive plants often lose their enemies when they arrive somewhere else - but does this actually help them invade? If so, how? Using a large-scale, three-year grassland experiment, I explore how enemy release may help plant invasion, and under what circumstances these effects are strongest.
About the Researcher
Dr. Josh Brian is a community ecologist, based at King's College London. He currently works on grasslands but has previous experience in freshwater mussels and coral reefs, and is motivated by general questions concerning parasitism, invasion and drivers of cross-scale ecological patterns.