Dr. Jordana "Jordge" LaFantasie

Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences         Advising: Rangeland Conservation

E-mail: jjlafantasie@fhsu.edu       Voice: 785-628-4269       FAX: 785-628-4153       Office: Albertson Hall 322

PhD: University of Wyoming, 2008
Major: Agronomy, Emphasis in Rangeland Soils and Invasive Species
Dissertation Title: “Invasion Ecology of Black Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger L.) in Sagebrush, Mixed Grass and Short Grass Ecosystems"

BS: University of Wyoming, 2004
Major: Rangeland Ecology and Watershed Management
Minor: Soil Science

Courses Taught:

• Human Biology
• Humans and the Environment
• Rangeland Management
• Range Plants
• Ecological and Rangeland Techniques
• Soil Ecology and Biogeochemistry

Research Interests: My research interests are broad and aimed at the needs of rangeland managers and landowners, as well as the scientific community. They include:

• Aboveground and belowground responses of rangelands/grasslands to changes in disturbance regimes due to anthropogenic and natural forces
  • Plant community composition
  • Soil community composition
  • Aboveground and belowground relationships between suites of species
  • Ecosystem function from micro to landscape levels
• Rangeland invasive plants
  • Control and prevention with an ecological approach
  • Impacts of invasive species on native plant and soil communities
  • Mechanisms behind invasive plant recruitment, survival and dominance of invasive plants in rangelands
  • Native plant community susceptibility to invasion
• Plant-fungal mutualisms
  • Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
  • Dark septate endophytes

Mailing Address, US Post Office:
   Department of Biological Sciences
   Fort Hays State University
   509 South Campus Drive, Room 302
   Hays, KS 67601

Mailing Address, Private Couriers (e.g., UPS, FedEx):
   Department of Biological Sciences
   Fort Hays State University
   600 Park Street
   Hays, KS 67601