Research Interests

Mesgaran lab studies the biological and ecological processes underpinning the spread and escalation of weedy and invasive plants both in agricultural and natural systems. In our research on weedy plants, we are striving to establish links between ecological patterns and physiological processes through advanced modeling approaches. The overarching goal of our research is to help enhance the sustainability of agroecosystems as related to weed management practices through integration of ecological principles. The current research focuses of Mesgaran lab are:

• Spatiotemporal dynamics of weeds in agricultural and natural systems

• Reproduction biology of weeds and invasive plants

• Ecophysiology of seed germination and emergence

• Remote and proximal sensing

• Application of artificial intelligence (deep learning) in weed science and management

• Interaction between weedy plants and their pollinators

Grad Group Affiliations

• Plant Biology
• Horticulture & Agronomy

Specialties / Focus

• Environmental and Integrative Biology

Courses

• PLS 176: Introduction to Weed Science

Honors and Awards

• McKenzie Fellowship, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Professional Societies

• Weed Science Society of America
• California Weed Science Society

Degrees

• 2011 PhD. University of Tehran, Iran

Publications

Selected recent publications:

Mesgaran, M. B., J. Bouhours, M. A. Lewis and R. D. Cousens. 2017. How to be a good neighbour: facilitation and competition among co-flowering species. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 422, 72–83

Mesgaran, M. B., A. Onofri, H. R. Mashhadi and R. D. Cousens. 2017. Water availability shifts the optimal temperatures for seed germination: a modelling approach. Ecological Modelling. 351, 87–95

Mesgaran, M. B., K. Madani, H. Hashemi, and P. Azadi. 2017. Iran’s land suitability for agriculture. Scientific Reports. 7 (6770)

Mesgaran M. B., M. A. Lewis, P. K. Ades, K. Donohue,  S. Ohadi, C. Li and R. D. Cousens. 2016. Hybridization can facilitate species invasions, even without enhancing local adaptation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United State of America. 113, 10210–10214 

Ohadi, S., A. Peter, F. Rebecca, M. B. Mesgaran and R. D. Cousens.  2015. Genetic structure along the strandline: Unravelling invasion history in a one-dimensional system. Journal of Biogeography. 43, 451–460

Hyndman, R., M. B. Mesgaran and R. D. Cousens. 2015. Statistical issues with using herbarium data for the estimation of invasion lag-phases. Biological Invasions. 17, 3371-3381

Mesgaran, B. M., B. Webber and R. D. Cousens. 2014. Here be dragons: a tool for quantifying novelty due to covariate range and correlation change when projecting species distribution models. Diversity and Distributions. 20, 1147–1159

Mesgaran, B. M., H. R. Mashhadi, H. Alizadeh, J. R. Hunt, K. R. Young and R. D. Cousens. 2013. Importance of distribution function selection for hydrothermal time models of seed germination. Weed Research. 53, 89-101