Ramesh Laungani

  Ramesh Laungani
  Assistant Professor of Biology

Areas of interest:

Courses taught:  Introduction to Cell Biology, Ecology and Evolution of the Organism, Comparative Anatomy, Conservation Biology, Introduction to Biology, Senior Research I, II, III.

Research interests:  My research interests are extremely varied but center around plant ecology, particularly how plants change the cycling of nutrients in the ecosystem. As part of this research, I have examined questions concerning plant competition for soil resources (such as nitrogen), plant-soil microbe relationships, and plant-soil feedbacks on plant performance. I have also conducted research into bioenergy and the most sustainable tree species to use for renewable biofuel production. 

Student Research:

Some of the questions that students will have the chance to explore in my lab are:

• How do different plant species respond to global change?
• How do exotic species invade new communities?
• Are all exotic species ‘bad' for an ecosystem?
• How do plants-microbe interactions drive the plant communities that you see everyday?
• How can plants impact their own growth and success in an ecosystem?

My training in ecology and evolutionary biology however allows me to examine a wide range of questions from the physiological to the ecosystem scale.

I currently have 10 research students working with me on their research projects.  Their projects include understanding how plant community diversity impacts the success of invasive woody species, the relationship between age-related macular degeneration and build-up of retinal debris, and how chelated mineral impact artificial insemination rates in cattle.

Other Educational Activities at Doane and in the Crete community:

1) I am currently developing a carbon sequestration plan for Doane College (DC²P) that involves students actively planting trees and quantifying the standing carbon stocks in the trees and soil on Doane's campus.

2) I am currently working with upper-level science students at Crete Middle School. On this day we are carrying out a graphing activity using the explosive chemical reaction between Diet Coke and Mentos. The students are asking the question: "What is the relationship between number of Mentos inserted into the bottle and height of Diet Coke explosion.

3) I am involved with a local prairie nature club in conjunction with the Audubon society. We take a group of school aged students, many of whom are under-represented groups in science, and Crete community members out to a restored prairie near Doane to explore a variety of aspects of prairie biology ranging from grassland restoration to mammals and birds of the prairie.

Peer Review Publications:
Laungani, R., J. Knops, and C. Brassil. 2012. Feedback on plant productivity can be constrained by SOM in N-limited grasslands. Soil Biology and Biochemistry (in press)*

Laungani, R. and J. Knops. 2012. Microbial nitrogen immobilization drives nitrogen cycling differences among species. Oikos (in press)*

Laungani, R. and J. Knops. 2009. Species impacts on ecosystem carbon pools, distribution, and potential bioenergy stocks. Global change biology: bioenergy 1: 392 - 403.

Laungani, R. and J. Knops. 2009. Species-driven changes in nitrogen cycling can control plant invasions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106 (30): 12400-12405

Umphlett, N.A., T.R. Brosius, R. Laungani, J. Rousseau, and D.L. Leslie-Pelecky. 2009. Ecosystem Jenga. Science Scope 33 (1): 57 - 60

Mascaro, J, R. Laungani, C. Farrior, R.F. Hughes, J. Knops, and S. Schnitzer. Invasion ecology and the biodiversity-ecosystem function paradigm: could invasion benefit ecosystem function? (in revision)

*Published while at Doane College