Global environmental change includes complex, interrelated phenomena such as greenhouse warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, tropical deforestation, loss of biodiversity, atmospheric nitrogen deposition, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, and a host of other environmental changes. My research focuses on understanding how plants interact with a changing environment, both physical and biotic, and the physiological adaptations of plants to environmental stress. I am also interested in scaling plant physiological processes to the ecosystem level, for example, defining the role of nitrogen-fixing plants in ecosystem nitrogen balance.

Dr. Thomas' Home Page: http://www.as.wvu.edu/~rthomas/lab/