Matt Lavin's photostream  

In am interested in the study and interpretation of native and exotic plant diversity in all regions of the world, but especially the sagebrush steppe of western North America and seasonally dry tropical vegetation characterized by graminoid scarcity and succulent plant abundance (e.g., cactus, euphorbs, bromeliads, agaves, etc.).

In addition to my research on plant diversity in the sagebrush steppe and seasonally dry tropical vegetation, I teach two plant courses at Montana State University for which I am developing this Flickr site - agrostology (grass systematics and ecology) and plant systematics (a regional flora course). Photo sets such as that focused on the grasses of Montana and the plants of Burke Park and the Gallagator Trail system (both within the city limits of Bozeman) are dedicated to these courses but I hope others will find these tagged photos easily retrievable and useful.

I am setting up a Flickr set for each area of the sagebrush steppe in which I have studied, such as the Burke Park sagebrush steppe. My intent is to take a study area, such as the sagebrush steppe of Burke Park, and illustrate every plant species in that plant community with photos. I want to document the under-studied diversity of sagebrush steppe plant communities. They have been decimated by overstocking and cropping that it is difficult to know, as with most plant communities, what they would comprise with little human-mediated disturbance.