Who we are

The Leger Lab is a family built from camaraderie, passion, and dirt

To study plants, you have to get your hands dirty. When you join the lab, you join a team of plant enthusiasts who will not only care about you, but will also be willing to get sweaty and dirty with you for the greater purpose of native plant restoration in the Great Basin.

More about our Research

Meet the PI

Elizabeth Leger, Ph.D.

Focusing on native plant restoration in the Great Basin, I design experiments to identify the most promising strategies for restoring natural systems affected by fire, invasive species, and changing climate.

By studying local adaptation and selection in the wild, my lab has identified a suite of strategies that increase plant survival in invaded and disturbed systems, notable in that these strategies are diametrically opposed to the long-standing views of traits that should be prioritized during restoration of these cold desert systems.

I am a foundation professor at the University of Nevada, Reno and the Director of the Museum of Natural History.

Download my CV

Current Lab Members

Taylor Bradford

RESEARCH SCIENTIST
Taylor is from California and took a circuitous route to Reno where she earned her M.S. in the Forister lab at UNR studying the Sand Mountain blue butterfly. After finishing that project, she made her way to the plant side and is now working on seed cleaning, testing, and common garden projects with Nevada's most beautiful plants.
Alisa Kim

GRADUATE STUDENT
Alisa has an extensive background in applied ecological restoration. She has an undergraduate degree from UC Davis and work experience with non-profits and regional conservation districts, focusing on ecological conservation and restoration. Alisa most recently worked with East Bay Regional Park District, before coming to Reno to work on native desert plants.
Rosa Kirk-Davidoff

GRADUATE STUDENT
Rosa graduated from Williams College in 2021 and did conservation work around the country for two years before moving to Reno to work for the Forest Service as a research technician. She worked on various projects with the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) before deciding to make one her Master’s project. Rosa studies the post-fire regeneration of Jeffrey Pines in the Eastern Sierra and is co-advised by Beth and Stephanie Yelenik from RMRS.
Leah Lenzo

GRADUATE STUDENT
Originally from Rochester, New York, Leah studies native seed ecology and wins the prize for the most seeds weighed and x-rayed in the lab to-date (saying a lot). Leah was the Seeds of Success National Curator for the Bureau of Land Management from 2018-2020, where she managed a database of over 25,000 native seed collections that she is currently analyzing for her dissertation. Leah also serves as Treasurer for the International Network for Seed-based Restoration.
Cathy Silliman

GRADUATE STUDENT
Cathy moved to Reno after graduating from Cal Poly SLO in 2018. After studying sea turtles in Hawai’i, Cathy joined “team plant,” conducting Seeds of Success collections with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. She began working in the Leger Lab as a technician in 2020, and launched into her MS in 2022. Cathy is now working as an ecologist for the Great Basin Institute/BLM while she finishes her degree, in a full circle of work-school-work focusing on Great Basin plants.
Shannon Swim

RESEARCH SCIENTIST
Shannon has deep roots in the 89509, with Reno as her home base. Shannon’s love of plants began with native trees but gradually transitioned to the "small plants" that now occupy most of her time. Shannon served as the Sagebrush in Prisons Project Coordinator for Nevada and California, successfully growing hundreds of thousands of sagebrush plugs with incarcerated individuals. In addition to conducting research on native plants and seeds, Shannon created the UNR Seed Bank, which she now oversees. Let us know about your seed cleaning needs!
Cynthia Scholl

MUSEUM RESEARCHER
A Reno native, Cynthia is the beating heart of the outreach program at the Museum of Natural History, where she welcomes every visitor and supervises many undergraduates working in the collections. Cynthia studied the ecology of Nevada butterflies for her MS degree (UNR, 2012), and she continues that work as part of her position at the Museum. Cynthia is also the co-founder and Associate Director of the non-profit Nevada Bugs & Butterflies, rounding out her love of the plants and animals of the Great Basin.
Jerry Tiehm

HERBARIUM CURATOR
Star baker and star botanist, Jerry is The Man when it comes to Nevada’s plants. With two degrees from UNR, Jerry’s plant work has always been focused on Nevada, first a at the New York Botanical Garden and later as a volunteer in the University of Nevada, Reno herbarium. Jerry became curator of the herbarium in 2013 with the formation of the Museum of Natural History at UNR. He has made over 19,700 plant collections, mostly from Nevada, including 21 plants new to science and ~60 plants new to Nevada. Most recently, Jerry named the Elko buttercup, Ranunculus legerae, after our fearless leader. Read all about it!
Génie MontBlanc

SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
Genie is all about science communication and collaboration! After two MS degrees at UNR (Biology and Resource Economics), Genie was part of the inaugural team of the Great Basin Fire Science Exchange, and she has been serving as a coordinator for that long-term project since 2009. Fun fact: Beth and Génie grew up about 7 miles from each other on the California coast, but didn’t meet until they both moved to Reno!
Zoe Zingerman

GRADUATE STUDENT
Zoe is coming to UNR in Fall 2024 from Colorado, where she has been working on studies of seed longevity at the USDA-ARS, National Laboratory for Genetic Resource Preservation. We are super excited to have her on board and can’t wait for her to define her research projects!

Our Values

Here's a glimpse into the culture that defines us:

Supportive & Inclusive:

We believe that you can only do your best work in an environment when you are supported, healthy, and happy! We strive for that here, and welcome all kinds of people.

Dedicated & Resilient:

Working hard towards a broader goal is our style; we are not motivated by personal glory but by a common purpose, which is doing excellent applied science.

Forward-Thinking:

Why go small when you can go big? We push our experiments to the limits of our patience, and then we go a little further.

Alumni & Ongoing Collaborators

Alison Agneray

PhD, 2022
Coming to us from the windy city of Chicago, Alison is the master of the largest seed and seedling trait experiment in Great Basin history, plus pioneering work in community-level effects of local adaptation. Upon graduating, Alison became the Great Basin Ecoregional Coordinator for the Bureau of Land Management; currently a freelance ecologist working in the Great Basin.
Kevin Badik

PhD, 2014
Ohio native and lover of fire and excellent science communicator, Kevin worked on fire impacts in Alaskan forests as well as pioneering work testing the evolution of flammability in fire adapted seeds and seedlings. Kevin is currently a Rangeland Ecologist with The Nature Conservancy of Nevada, working to maintain and restore Nevada’s wild landscapes.
Sarah Barga

PhD, 2017
The most patient and thoughtful scientist, Sarah spent years staring at seeds in petri dishes, describing germination requirements and seed bank communities, and pioneering methods to model species distributions from herbarium collections. Sarah is currently a Research Botanist with the USDA Forest Service in Cedar City, UT, where she continues to study the nation’s most drought-adapted plants.
Tessa Bartz

MS, 2022
A transplant to the desert from the midwest, always ready to put in the long days in the name of science, in the heat and cold. Tessa studied local adaptation in Great Basin forbs, including use of the always fun “watering the desert” protocol, and is currently putting her skills to use as a Botanist with the Nevada Division of Natural Heritage.
Owen Baughman

MS, 2014
Raised in Nevada and a lifelong champion of the Great Basin’s natural and ecological wonder, Owen worked on the mysterious cheatgrass die-off phenomenon, asking if native seeds can establish in this brief window this die-off provides, and spent more time looking at teeny seedlings on his knees/stomach than any other student, past or present. Owen continued as Research Faculty at UNR, becoming the lab’s longest-running employee, and is currently still looking at teeny seedlings as a Restoration Scientist for The Nature Conservancy’s Sagebrush Sea Program.
Cody Ernst-Brock

MS, 2018
Originally from Alaska, Cody is our only graduate student who did their undergraduate degree at UNR. After working with the Nevada Department of Wildlife for many years, Cody tamed their giant dataset into a retrospective of plant change over time in the Great Basin, and also completed a long-term study on pinyon-juniper removal; currently co-owner and co-creator of Silver Sage Eco, a consulting company focusing on botanical work in remote locations.
Rosemary Frederick

MS, 2022
Originally from Florida, Rosie was cheerful in the face of epic drought conditions during her MS degree. She studied maternal effects on seed and seedling traits in squirreltail grasses, and is currently a research specialist at the University of California, Berkeley and plans to continue in land management and restoration ecology in the Bay Area.
Dash Hibbard

MS, 2015
Dash conducted research on long-lived perennial plant evolutionary responses to nitrogen deposition in Joshua Tree National Park. This painstaking, hot, and challenging work fits Dash’s steadfast personality, and he now works as a Restoration Ecologist for the Walker Basin Conservancy, working to turn converted deserts back to native systems.
Sarah Kulpa

MS, 2010
Another of the lab’s OG graduate students, Sarah used her abundant organizational and critical thinking skills to document successes and failures of post-fire seedings on public lands, and in a classic experiment, documented strong selection during the restoration process. Sarah is the Restoration Ecologist and Botanist at the USFWS office in Reno, coordinates the Nevada Native Seed Partnership, and is currently on detail to the Bureau of Land Management.
Jamey McClinton

MS, 2019
Originally from Bishop, CA, Jamey worked on rare Eriogonum species in Nevada’s most beautiful deserts, studying soil preferences in endemic species, and taking the “watering the desert” method of restoration to the next level. She also utilized data from the NV Division of Natural Heritage to assess trends in threats to critically imperiled rare plants state-wide before joining the Division as their lead botanist. Jamey rocketed up the chain, and is currently the Administrator of the program, supervising 11 full-time employees.
Courtney Rowe

MS, 2010
One of the lab’s first two students, Courtney pioneered many of the root washing techniques we would go on to use for years; she conducted common garden studies to help describe squirreltail (our favorite restoration grass) traits related to cultivar seed source as well as cheatgrass invasion status. Since 2008, Courtney has worked for the U.S.Forest Service, focusing on the intersection of natural resource and wildland fire management. She is currently a member of the Inyo National Forest resource staff.
Allison Pfeifer

MS, 2012
The most intrepid root-washer, Allison did a project on root plasticity in native plants, asking if they changed their root strategies when in the presence of cheatgrass (they do!). Allison has been teaching for 17 years, and is currently a biology teacher at Archbishop Mitty High School; her degree gave her the competitive edge to land a prime teaching position in the Bay Area, where she teaches inquiry based courses, including AP Biology and AP Environmental Science.
Laura Shriver

MS, 2022
Squeezing more into a MS degree than anyone could believe, Laura studied non-target herbicide effects on native annuals in an agricultural field and a natural site, and also measured evolutionary change during the seed storage process; currently coordinating the Restoration Assessment & Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS) at the USGS in Flagstaff, AZ