Campus Directory

Division Social Sciences Division

Department/College/Unit Environmental Studies Department

Title PhD Candidate

Affiliation Graduate

Web Site

Primary Office Location Nat Sci 2 Main Building
469

Mail Stop Environmental Studies

Biography, Education and Training

Georgia studies how prescribed fire can restore degraded California coastal prairies. Her work integrates an observational study of vegetation and soil carbon across the Central Coast, a field experiment reestablishing native annual wildflowers, and a life cycle analysis quantifying the carbon footprint of grassland restoration. She co-led a coastal prairie fire working group with over 30 agencies, faciliating workshops and developing a practitioner-focused website. Before her Ph.D., she worked in land management in the San Francisco Bay Area and Carson City and earned a master’s in plant conservation. She is passionate about mentorship and advancing collaborative, applied conservation.

Summary of Expertise

My research includes restoring native annual forb species in California coastal prairies and evaluating prairie recovery pre- and post-burn.

Selected Publications

Urza, A., Weisberg, P. J., Adkins, J., Board, D.,  Chambers, J., Vasey, G. L. (2026). Seed source climate and precipitation timing determine dryland tree recruitment in hot and dry range margins. Journal of Ecology, 114, e70330.2026

Galloway, E. M., Musto, M. R., Vasey, G.L., Holl, K. H. (2026). Prescribed Burn Impacts on California Coastal Prairie Seed Banks. Madroño, 73, 1-8.

Vasey, G. L., Chambers, J. C., Pringle, E. G., Weisberg, P. J., & Urza, A. K. (2023). Clinal variations in seedling traits and responses to water availability correspond to seed-source environmental gradients in a foundational dryland tree species. Annals of Botany, 132, 203-216.

Vasey, G. L., Urza, A. K., & Weisberg, P. J. (2022). Intraspecific trait variation in a dryland tree species corresponds to regional climate gradients. Journal of Biogeography, 2309-2320.