Laurel Pfeifer-Meister

Laurel Pfeifer-Meister serves as Senior Instructor I in the Department of Biology at the University of Oregon's College of Arts and Sciences. Her office is located in Klamath Hall.

Research examines plant ecology in changing environments, focusing on climate change impacts on prairie ecosystems, restoration ecology, and plant population dynamics. Key investigations analyze how native and introduced plant species respond to experimental warming across Mediterranean-climate gradients.

Publications demonstrate that climate manipulations significantly affect phenology and community composition, with introduced species mediating climate-driven changes in Pacific Northwest prairies. Restoration efforts face complex tradeoffs between disturbance regimes and climate adaptation.

Field-based experimental approaches characterize population responses across latitudinal gradients, revealing climate warming threatens persistence of disturbance-adapted native annual plants. Current work investigates spatiotemporal variation in endemic species dynamics.