Gough Lab

Thanks for visiting! Here, you will find information about our research in plant physiological and ecosystem ecology. We study how climate, disturbance, succession, and ecosystem structure affect leaf to ecosystem-scale processes, with a focus on forest and wetland carbon cycling. We are hiring undergraduate student research collaborators for the 2026 field season to conduct Department of Energy (DOE), National Science Foundation (NSF), and NASA supported research at VCU's Rice Rivers Center and the University of Michigan Biological Station. Please contact Chris.

What we do: National Science Foundation projects ask how forests respond to disturbance. NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program provides immersive training for undergraduates. NASA and DOE projects investigate mid-Atlantic wetland carbon cycling using ground, air, and satellite observations. A new project with the Nature Conservancy marshals research to improve nature based solutions.

NEWS

The Spring semester is underway and it’s writing and planning season! Brandon is wrapping up a paper linking forest structural complexity to continental biodiversity, Lisa is leading a mid-Atlantic wetland methane flux analysis, and Ariel is putting the final touches on a paper examining how disturbance severity reshapes forest plant communities. We are planning the field season ahead, which will encompass new applied research supporting the Nature Conservancy’s implementation of nature based solutions.

Spring

We just concluded the Fall with an energizing American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, where nine members of the lab presented on a range of research topics, including forest structure and biodiversity, wetland biogeochemistry, and compound disturbance effects on forest structure and carbon cycling.

Fall

What a summer! Erin-Darby McClain and Angela Menna successfully defended M.S. theses, students and postdocs conducted research in Michigan’s forests and mid-Atlantic wetlands, and Chris started as Executive Director of the Rice Rivers Center. VCU hosted 24 student interns participating in NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program. We welcomed a new M.S. student, Douglas Giles, to the lab. He spent the summer installing a NASA-loaned hyperspectral instrument in a restored wetland! And, we received a new NSF award to study compound disturbance effects on forest carbon cycling.

Summer