CALIFORNIA GRASSLANDS PROVIDE ECONOMICALLY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY IMPORTANT ECOSYSTEM SERVICES INCLUDING FORAGE FOR CATTLE, SOIL STABILIZATION, CARBON STORAGE, NUTRIENT CYCLING, AND HABITAT FOR RARE AND ENDANGERED SPECIES. THESE SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO DRASTIC HUMAN MANIPULATION FROM OVER-GRAZING AND DEVELOPMENT, BOTH OF WHICH HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO CHANGES IN SPECIES COMPOSITION AND THE DOMINANCE OF THESE AREAS BY INVASIVE ANNUAL PLANTS. WHILE SOME OF THE MORE NATURALIZED INVADERS PROVIDE FORAGE FOR CATTLE, OTHER INVADERS CAUSE WIDESPREAD PROBLEMS FOR RANGELAND SUSTAINABILITY BY LIMITING FORAGE PRODUCTION, OUTCOMPETING DESIRABLE SPECIES, INCREASING FIRE FREQUENCY, AND REDUCING WATER AVAILABILITY. LIMITING INVADER ESTABLISHMENT AND ERADICATING HARMFUL INVADERS IS THUS A CRUCIAL COMPONENT OF RANGELAND MANAGEMENT AND OVERALL GRASSLAND HEALTH.THE PROPOSED RESEARCH SEEKS TO UNDERSTAND SEED BANKING STRATEGIES IN INVASIVE ANNUAL PLANTS IN ORDER TO MORE EFFECTIVELY MANAGE THEIR CONTROL. MANY PLANTS USE SEED BANKS, OR POOLS OF VIABLE DORMANT SEEDS IN THE SOIL TO MINIMIZE THEIR RISK OF GERMINATING INTO A POOR ENVIRONMENT. WHILE A HEALTHY NATIVE SEED BANK MAY INCREASE A SYSTEM'S RESILIENCE TO CHANGE, A DENSE INVASIVE SEED BANK WOULD HAVE THE SAME EFFECT, MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT TO ERADICATE AN INVADER. THESE SEED BANKERS PRESENT AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT PROBLEM FROM SPECIES WITHOUT SEED BANKS, AS ERADICATION ABOVEGROUND DOES NOT NECESSARILY INDICATE SUCCESSFUL CONTROL. MY PROJECT USES A COMBINATION OF EXPERIMENTALLY-COLLECTED DATA, EXISTING OBSERVATIONAL DATA, AND NOVEL MODELING TECHNIQUES TO TEST HOW SEED BANKING AND NON-SEED BANKING INVASIVE ANNUAL SPECIES RESPOND TO CLIMATE AND TO PREDICT TIME TO ERADICATION FOR THESE INVADERS. IT THEN USES AN EXISTING MANAGEMENT DATASET TO GENERALIZE THESE FINDINGS TO INVASIVE SPECIES NOT INCLUDED IN THE EXPERIMENT. TOGETHER THIS PROJECT WILL HELP RESEARCHERS BETTER UNDERSTAND SEED BANKING STRATEGIES OF PLANTS AND WILL HELP LAND MANAGERS BETTER CONTROL INVASIVE SPECIES. FURTHER, IT WILL PROVIDE THE PRIMARY DIRECTOR WITH CRITICAL TRAINING AS A SCIENTIST AND EDUCATOR.