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Program in Ecology Faculty represent many different departments and offer diverse expertise and interests, but all share a core commitment to research and graduate training in ecology. All students enrolled in PiE are advised or co-advised by a PiE Faculty member.
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William L. Baker
Professor of Geography
E-mail: bakerwl@uwyo.edu | Web Page
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My
main interest is in landscape ecology, focusing on human and natural
disturbances in Southern Rocky Mountain landscapes, historical changes
in landscapes, and implications for natural resource management. Recent
research projects have included global change effects on treeline in
Rocky Mountain National Park, fire history in montane and subalpine
landscapes in Rocky Mountain National Park, effects of a large natural
blowdown in northern Colorado, and landscape change in the San Juan
Mountains. I use GIS as a tool in many analyses, as well as spatial
models, global positioning systems, and other quantitative geographical
tools. I have recently coedited books on forest fragmentation in the
southern Rocky Mountains (Univ. Colorado Press), spatial modeling of
forest landscape change (Cambridge Univ. Press), and fire and climatic
change in temperate ecosystems of the western Americas (Springer), and
am coauthor of a forthcoming book on legacies of human activities in
Southwestern Colorado and promising visions for restoration (Univ. of
Utah Press). I am initiating work on restoration of native plants in
degraded semi-arid landscapes and a book-length treatment of the natural
vegetation of the Southern Rocky Mountains.
Jeffrey L. Beck
Assistant Professor of Rangeland Wildlife Habitat Restoration Ecology
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management
E-mail: jlbeck@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Clay Buchanan, Aaron Pratt, Kurt Smith
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My
research interests lie in wildlife habitat ecology and restoration
ecology with a focus on restoring the functionality and structure of
wildlife habitats in disturbed rangeland systems, particularly sagebrush
habitats. The types of research questions that my lab addresses
typically are guided by ecological concepts that are used as a framework
to evaluate conservation questions. We use a variety of tools to
obtain data to answer our questions including estimation of demographic
parameters, field experimentation, habitat modeling, nutritional
analyses, population monitoring, statistical modeling, and vegetation
measurements. Two general areas of emphasis that my lab is pursuing
are: (1) understanding the direct and indirect impacts of anthropogenic
development on vertebrate species (greater sage-grouse and ungulates as
model taxa) inhabiting sagebrush habitats, and (2) evaluating the
efficacy of mitigation techniques and conservation practices intended to
enhance habitat conditions or mitigate effects of anthropogenic
development in sagebrush habitats. In all studies we seek to understand
responses of habitat restoration efforts across a range of spatial and
temporal scales to better inform conservation practices.
Merav Ben-David
Professor of Zoology
E-mail: bendavid@uwyo.edu | Web Page
Students: Jamie Crait, John Whiteman
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My
main interest revolves around the interaction between animal behavioral
ecology, population dynamics, and ecosystem function. I mainly study
carnivores and use the transport of nutrient from sea to land as a model
system. To study those interactions, I use isotopic and genetic
tracers. For example, I investigate the effects of trade-off between
nutritional requirements and risk of infanticide on consumption of
salmon by female brown bears, and how female decisions made based on
this trade-off influence the transfer of salmon-derived nutrients to
terrestrial vegetation.
Craig Benkman
Professor of Zoology and Robert B. Berry Chair in Ecology
E-mail: cbenkman@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Zach Gayk, Matt Talluto
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My
research interests lie within behavior, ecology and evolution. What
unites them is my belief that many interesting and important questions
can only be answered with an understanding of resource availability.
Consequently, much of my research has focused on linking resource
availability to various aspects of behavior, ecology and evolution. We
mostly study crossbills (Loxia) because we can quantify resource
availability in the wild and we can bring food resources into the
laboratory where we can ask meaningful questions with captive
crossbills. It also allows us to combine our interests in behavior,
plant and animal ecology, and evolution. One of my current projects
addresses whether and how a coevolutionary arms race between crossbills
and lodgepole pine is causing crossbills to speciate and another project
is determining how important coevolution has been in the adaptive
radiation of crossbills.
Alex Buerkle
Associate Professor of Botany
E-mail: buerkle@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Monia Haselhorst, Liz Mandeville
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Research
in my lab focuses on the genetics of adaptation and speciation. Both of
these evolutionary processes operate within an ecological context.
Thus, I am particularly interested in understanding the basis of traits
that have functional and ecological importance. Similarly, I am
interested in the ecological determinants of the outcomes of
hybridization, including speciation. The reason for studying the
genetics of these evolutionary processes is that knowledge of the
underlying genetics can reveal important details of the dynamics of
adaptation and speciation. Current research in the lab includes genetic
analyses of hybridization and adaptive differentiation among diverse
taxa (mice, fish, butterflies, cottonwoods, spruce, etc.). For many of
these projects we develop novel computational analyses of genetic and
phenotypic data.
Ingrid Burke
Director of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources
Wyoming Excellence Chair, Professor of Botany and Ecosystem Science and Management
E-mail: iburke@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Oggie Avirmed
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Biogeochemical
cycling in semiarid ecosystems, at local to regional scales; Soil
carbon and nitrogen turnover; Nitrogen retention in soils; Influences of
land use management on net ecosystem production and C, N, and P
storage; Almost anything at all about ecosystem ecology!; Environmental
literacy for college students; Pedagogical techniques.
Steven Buskirk
Professor of Zoology and Physiology - no longer accepting new students
E-mail: marten@uwyo.edu
Web Page
Recent Publications
Top of Page
I am no longer accepting new students.
I am interested in a wide range of terrestrial ecological processes,
including community structure, small population processes,
landscape-level environmental change, and population genetics. The
animal models that I study include various mammalian taxa, but I work
mostly with small and mid-sized carnivores and their prey. The tools
used by my students and me are exceedingly diverse, and chosen to fit
the question, taxon, location, and circumstances of the study. They
include biotelemetry, molecular markers, stable isotopes, GIS, and
observing animals with our eyes. Most of the research I do is somehow
related to an animal conservation issue, although in some cases
indirectly.
Matt Carling
Assistant Professor of Zoology and Physiology
E-mail: mcarling@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Shawn Billerman
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Research
in my lab focuses on understanding the processes of speciation and
adaptation in birds. While we focus primarily on these questions from a
genetic perspective, we must also consider the environments inhabited by
the birds we study. Current projects include: 1) a detailed dissection
of gene flow and introgression across the hybrid zone between Lazuli (Passerina ameona) and Indigo (Passerina cyanea)
buntings; 2) a broad comparative hybrid zone study focusing on a number
of avian species pairs that hybridize in the Great Plains (e.g.
Passerina buntings, Icterus orioles, and Pipilo towhees); 3) patterns of
functional differentiation in Tachycineta swallows; and 4) a
investigation of the impact of extreme environments (high elevation,
high latitude) on the evolution of mitochondrial genes.
Anna Chalfoun
Research Ecologist, USGS Wyoming Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit
Department of Zoology and Physiology
E-mail: achalfou@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Jason Carlisle
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I
study wildlife-habitat relationships and the ecological, behavioral,
and evolutionary processes underlying patterns in habitat use and
quality at multiple spatial scales. My lab is currently focused on the
influence of anthropogenic changes to habitats (e.g., via oil and
natural gas extraction) on non-game wildlife species including
songbirds, small mammals and herpetofauna, especially within sagebrush
systems. My work has also focused on broad scale life history patterns
and avian parental care behaviors.
Mark Clementz
Assistant Professor of Paleobiology
Department of Geology and Geophysics
E-mail: mclemen1@uwyo.edu | Web Page
Students: Morgan Churchill
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My
research interests center on understanding the ecological relationships
among organisms within ancient ecosystems. For the past several years, I
have been particularly interested in the study of the evolutionary
ecology of marine mammals including sirenians (e.g., manatees, dugongs)
and cetaceans (e.g., whales, dolphins, porpoises). The primary tools I
use for this research are stable isotope analyses of the inorganic and
organic fraction of fossil remains, which can provide information on the
diet and habitat preferences of extinct organisms that might not be
interpretable from the morphology or depositional setting. Recently, an
increasing component of my research has included work in modern marine
and terrestrial ecosystems as a means of testing interpretations of
geochemical results from fossil remains. Two examples of these projects
include a long term study of the feeding habits of manatees in the
Indian River Lagoon of Florida and analysis of lifetime feeding habits
and nutritional ecology of desert tortoises in the Sonoran and Mojave
Deserts with colleagues at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park.
Tim Collier
Associate Professor of Biocontrol Entomology
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management
E-mail: tcollier@uwyo.edu | Web Page
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My
research encompasses the theoretical and applied aspects of insect
ecology and biological control, the use of living organisms to control
insect pests and weeds. A current research focus is the behavioral and
population ecology of host specificity in insects used as weed
biological control agents. The primary question is: what behavioral and
ecological factors influence host specificity and impact of biological
control agents in the field? The key goal is to maximize impact on the
weed and minimize impact on native, non-target species. A second area of
research involves interactions among parasitoid wasps used in
biological control of Hawaiian fruit fly pests. Here the key issue is
coexistence of competing species, and direct and indirect interactions
in parasitoid-host food webs.
Michael Dillon
Assistant Professor of Zoology and Physiology
Email: michael.dillon@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Susma Giri
I am interested in functional adaptations of organisms to their
environment. I use a variety of techniques in both the laboratory and in
the field. I focus on insects because they dominate the terrestrial
biosphere (at least among metazoan taxa), where they inhabit a wide
array of environments, and because they are evolutionarily,
morphologically, and functionally diverse. Some current projects
include: flight and thermal physiology of alpine bumblebees,
physiological explanations for body size clines, climate change and
plant-pollinator interactions, and physiological impacts of recent
climate change.
Daniel F. Doak
Adjunct Professor of Zoology and Physiology
E-mail: ddoak@uwyo.edu | Web Page
Students: Reilly Dibner, Doug Keinath, Allison Louthan
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My
research projects span population and community ecology, and also a
variety of interests in both conservation biology and also basic ecology
and life history biology. My students work on an even broader range of
interests. Past students have worked on topics as diverse as
raptor-rodent interactions, honey bee-bumble bee competition, parasitic
plant ecology, exotic tree diseases, and behavior of aposematic beetles.
Current lab members are similarly broad. My own current projects
include the demography and control of range limits of arctic-alpine
plants, the role of termites in structuring East African savannah
communities, and the use of demographic models to predict extinction
risk and the best management methods for numerous threatened species.
Brent E. Ewers
Associate Professor of Botany
E-mail: beewers@uwyo.edu | Web Page
Students: Tim Aston, John Frank, David Reed
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My
research in plant physiological ecology focuses on discerning the
physiological controls of the fluxes of water, carbon, and nutrients
through ecosystems. Several research projects are underway in my
laboratory, utilizing techniques such as sap flow, porometry,
centrifuge-based vulnerability to cavitation, stable isotopes of carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen, soil physical measurements, and direct
measurements of biomass partitioning in plants. I am investigating the
impact of time since fire, tree species composition, and soil drainage
on the water budgets of boreal forests in central Manitoba, and the
impact of tree species and landscape position on carbon and water
cycling in forests of northern Wisconsin and the Medicine Bow Mountains
of Wyoming. In collaboration with Dr. Elise Pendall, I am quantifying
the effects of fire on carbon and water fluxes from sagebrush steppe at
sites in Wyoming.
Jacob R. Goheen
Associate Professor of Zoology and Physiology
E-mail: jgoheen@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Abdullahi Ali, Anne-Marie Hodge
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My
research interests lie at the nexus of conservation biology and
community ecology. Currently, I am devoted to two research programs: 1)
examining how the loss of megaherbivores and other wildlife affects
rangeland dynamics in savanna ecosystems through the Ungulate Herbivory
Under Rainfall Uncertainty (UHURU); and 2) investigating the interplay
between community saturation and human disturbances across wildlife
assemblages. Graduate projects in my research group span a breadth of
topics, and include precipitation and herbivory as filters to plant
community assembly, foraging efficiency/risk tradeoffs in herbivores,
community- and ecosystem-level consequences of wildlife restoration in
Mozambique, small mammal responses to ungulate extirpations, and
landscape change and conservation of a globally-endangered antelope in
northeastern Kenya.
Robert O. Hall, Jr.
Professor of Zoology and Physiology
E-mail: bhall@uwyo.edu | Web Page
Students: Erin Hotchkiss
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Research
Interests: I study stream and river ecology. My work extends from
population biology of invasions to biogeochemistry of nitrogen, and
organisms range from microbes to fish. I am most interested in linking
population ecology with ecosystem ecology and some current questions ask
how animals alter nitrogen cycling in streams. I am also interested in
food webs, because they provide a framework for understanding links
between animal populations and ecosystem processes (such as consumption
of primary production). Some current projects are:
- Impacts of land use on nitrate uptake and retention in streams in Jackson, Wyoming
- Linking carbon budgets and food web flows in the Colorado River, Grand Canyon
- Role of a migratory detritus-feeding fish on ecosystem processes in Venezuela
Ann Hild
Professor of Ecosystem Science and Management
E-mail: annhild@uwyo.edu | Web Page
Students: Kristen Gunther
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I
am a shrubland ecologist who focuses on restoration of shrublands in
the face of exotic invasive species, fire and anthropogenic uses such as
grazing and mining. My research targets primary and secondary impacts
of invasive species on sagebrush steppe, northern mixed prairie
grasslands, salt desert shrublands, and threatened and endangered
species in Wyoming, Colorado and the Intermountain West. As a result, I
have worked in habitat management for Colorado butterfly plant, Greater
sage grouse and with revegetation efforts on the Snake River Plain,
Thunder Basin and on wildlife refuges in the Wyoming Basin and tallgrass
prairies. My students have examined response of native vegetation to
invasive species and management history using greenhouse, field,
genetic, biocontrol and spatial database approaches. I teach graduate
courses in rangeland resources, shrubland ecology, research proposal
writing, and the graduate seminar in Research Across Disciplines (RAD).
Stephen T. Jackson
Adjunct Professor of Botany
E-mail: jackson@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Rachel Jones, Yao Liu
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Research
in my lab centers on ecological responses to environmental variation
(particularly climate) at decadal to millennial timescales. I am
particularly interested in linking ecological processes and climatic
dynamics across timescales. We use a variety of tools to study past
climatic variation and ecological changes, including pollen and plant
macrofossils (from lakes, wetlands, and woodrat middens), tree-rings,
stable isotopes, and testate amoebae. Ongoing projects include (1) the
role of centennial to millennial climate variability in pacing late
Holocene woody-plant migrations and population dynamics in the central
Rocky Mountains and western Great Lakes regions, (2) the Quaternary
biogeographic history of pines, spruces, and other trees in North
America, and (3) the relative roles of successional processes and
climate change in governing dynamics of wetlands. I am also initiating
biogeographic and paleoeocological studies in the mountains of
northeastern Mexico.
Matthew J. Kauffman
Assistant Professor of Zoology and Physiology
Assistant Leader, Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
E-mail: mkauffm1@uwyo.edu | Web Page
Students: Doug Keinath
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My
research interests range from demography and population dynamics of
animal species, to community-level consequences of herbivory and
predation, and landscape ecology of wildlife populations. A common theme
of much of my work is a desire to connect ecological research with
applied conservation issues, particularly regarding animal populations.
Some recent projects have evaluated the management and recovery of
peregrine falcons, the effects of range management on carnivores in
southern Africa, the dynamics of elk populations, and trophic
interactions among wolves, elk and aspen. Much of my current work, and
that of my students, is focused on the ecology and management of Rocky
Mountain ungulates and their predators. Nevertheless, interesting
ecological questions that have a bearing on real-world conservation will
always capture my interest regardless of taxa or study system. As the
Assistant Unit Leader for Wildlife at the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and
Wildlife Research Unit, my research program also addresses the priority
needs of state and federal wildlife managers. Consequently, students in
my lab often work closely with wildlife managers outside of academia.
Amy Krist
Research Scientist, Zoology and Physiology
E-mail: krist@uwyo.edu | Web Page
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In
my research, I seek to develop our understanding of host-parasite
relationships and the biology of invasions in an ecological and
evolutionary context. For example, I study the role of ecological
stoichiometry in the success of the non-native New Zealand mud snail and
the ecological and evolutionary consequences of the introduction of
lake trout to zooplankton in Yellowstone Lake. Using snail- trematode
interactions, I also study the consequences of parasitism to the
evolution of host-life histories and how varying the stoichiometry of
food alters the outcome of snail-trematode interactions.
William K. Lauenroth
Professor of Botany
E-mail: wlauenro@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Ariuna Lkhagva, Lynn Moore
I am very broadly interested in ecosystems in dry areas. My past
work has focused largely on grasslands and I expect most of my future
research to shift towards questions associated with mixtures of grasses
and shrubs or in ecosystems dominated by shrubs. A portion of my
research has focused on plant population and community ecology. Within
these general topics, my students and I have worked on demography,
controls on recruitment, resource partitioning between grasses and woody
plants, responses to and recovery from disturbance ranging from small
to large spatial scale including grazing by domestic livestock. Another
branch of the research my students and I have conducted falls within the
realm of ecosystem ecology and has included above and belowground net
primary production, carbon budgets, and water balance. I use simulation
modeling as a key exploratory and analysis tool across all of the
organizational and spatial scales of my research.
Rongsong Liu
Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Zoology
College of Arts and Sciences (Philosophy & Creative Writing)
E-mail: rliu1@uwyo.edu
My research interests are mathematical biology, differential
equations, dynamical systems, and their interface. My research projects
involve formulation, analysis and applications of deterministic
mathematical models for infectious diseases and ecological systems. The
models are aimed to answer questions and help gain useful insights for
the biological systems being investigated. Based on the theoretical
analysis and numerical simulations, we describe useful quantitative
behaviors of model solutions and tackle which factors are most important
in determining these behaviors. Together with collaborating biologists,
we provide biological interpretations of the mathematical results, as
insights and predictions. From time to time, we need to develop new or
improve existing mathematical theories and techniques to provide
satisfactory solutions to questions posed by collaborating biologists.
Jeffrey A. Lockwood
Professor of Natural Sciences & Humanities
College of Arts and Sciences (Philosophy & Creative Writing)
E-mail: lockwood@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Christa Cooper
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I
conduct research that focuses on studies, analyses, explorations,
syntheses, critiques, and expressions of the interface between natural
sciences and the humanities/arts. This work includes, but is not limited
to, philosophy and creative writing. My studies in philosophy pertain
to environmental and natural resource ethics, as well as environmental
justice. My efforts in writing are primarily in the genre of creative
non-fiction and nature writing, including book-length works, essays, and
shorter pieces. I also pursue scholarly studies at the interface
between religion and the natural sciences, with a focus on the
transcendental tradition, intellectual pluralism/pragmatism, and
panentheistic perspectives.
Carlos Martinez del Rio
Professor of Zoology and Physiology
E-mail: cmdelrio@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Mikey Tabak
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I
am a functional ecologist. My research focuses on the mechanisms that
animals use to garner resources and on the evolutionary causes and
ecological consequences of these mechanisms. For both scientific and
esthetic reasons, I work with animal-plant mutualisms. In my laboratory
we study birds and bats that pollinate flowers and that disperse seeds.
We study how they assimilate food, how they use the nutrients that they
assimilate to grow and reproduce, and how they detoxify the nasty
substances that are often found in natural products. We use simple
mathematical models to scale up the physiological processes in organs
and organisms to their consequences for ecosystem processes. We have
three active areas of research in the laboratory: 1) We are
investigating how nectar-feeding animals cope with the astounding
amounts of water that they ingest; 2) we are using the distinctive
stable isotope signatures of carbon and hydrogen in succulent CAM plants
to track the flux of resources from this functional group of plants
into the coterie of animals that consume their nectar and fruit in
subtropical desert ecosystems; and 3) we are investigating how
seed-dispersing birds create pattern in the spatial distribution of the
mistletoes that they feed on.
David B. McDonald
Professor of Zoology and Physiology
E-mail: dbmcd@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
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I
work at the intersection of behavioral ecology, demography and
molecular ecology. I am interested in how social systems interact with
genetic structure in lek-mating birds, in how landscapes have affected
the geographic structure of vertebrate populations and how matrix-based
demographic models illumine social behavior. Although my primary
organismal interest is birds, my students have used genetic markers to
explore questions in mammals and fish as well as birds. Current projects
include the evolution of cooperation in lek-mating Long-tailed Manakins
(Costa Rica), the genetics and mating system of high-elevation
rosy-finches, and the demography of endangered black-footed ferrets.
Thomas Minckley
Assistant Professor of Geography and Recreation
Email:minckley@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
My interests lie in how ecosystems have responded to past climate changes. I am a paleoecologist who works primarily on arid and semi-arid ecosystems (deserts to forests) in western North America and how those ecosystems respond to prolonged climate change like drought and to short-term disturbances like floods and fires. The primary tool I use for analyzing past ecosystem dynamics is pollen, macrobotanical remains and charcoal deposited on and contained within lake and wetland sediments. My lab currently has projects looking at the interactions between climate forcing and changes in stable states of desert wetland and grassland. I am investigating the resilience of western forests to prolonged drought (century to millennial scale) that may be coupled with changes in fire-regimes as possible analogs to future forest dynamics under climate change scenarios.
Melanie A. Murphy
Assitant Professor
of Ecosystem Science and Management
E-mail:melanie.murphy@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Beth Fitzpatrick, Charlotte Gabrielson
My research program is focused on addressing applied questions of
ecological complexity at landscape scales utilizing tools from landscape
ecology and population genetics. The goal of my research is to address
complex ecosystem dynamics, focusing on biodiversity (distribution and
abundance) and functional connectivity in areas of management and
conservation concern. My objective is to incorporate ecological
research and alternative management scenarios to assess sustainability.
While most of my current work focuses on amphibians and related
ecological systems, I have experience with a broad range of taxonomic
groups and their related ecological systems: carnivores, ungulates,
small mammals, birds, and a coniferous plant. I expect build a research
program addressing a broad range of taxonomic groups with a focus on
rangeland systems. I have three major interrelated areas of research:
1) Ecosystem Biodiversity - ecological and anthropogenic processes and
how they constrain species distributions, 2) Functional Connectivity -
system connectivity and how it limits population persistence, and 3)
Landscape Change - impact of alternative future landscape conditions on
ecosystem sustainability.
Urszula Norton
Assistant Professor of Agroecology
E-mail: unorton@uwyo.edu | Web Page
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My
research lies within the areas of both basic and applied science,
concentrating on questions formed to evaluate the impact of
anthropogenic or chronic disturbances on ecological underpinnings of
ecosystem resiliency and sustainability. As a biogeochemist I am drawn
toward understanding the linkages between belowground N and C cycling
and ecosystem functions. I am interested in agroecological principles
governing sustainable food production in time of diminishing natural
resources and environmental change and the short and long-term
consequences of climate variability on ecosystems services. In my
research approach I investigate a variety of soil, air and plant indices
that are most sensitive to environmental change such as greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) and labile
and stable organic matter pools. Methodologies I often employ include
GHG measurements, assays for determining potentially mineralizable C and
N, and gross rates of mineralization using 15N enrichment techniques. I
am currently involved in the following projects: (1) Quantifying the
impact of a massive bark beetle outbreak on carbon, water and nutrient
cycling and regeneration of southern Wyoming lodgepole pine forests; (2)
Development and transfer of conservation agriculture production systems
for small-holder farms in eastern Uganda and western Kenya; (3) Effects
of cropping-system, irrigation method, and soil properties on soil
nitrogen and organic matter dynamics in the Big Horn Basin; and, (4)
Economic and environmental sustainability of conventional,
reduced-input, and organic approaches on western crop-range-livestock
farms.
Elise Pendall
Associate Professor of Botany
E-mail: pendall@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Amanda Brennan, Colin Tucker
I conduct research on carbon and water fluxes between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, and on the effects of global changes such as increasing carbon dioxide concentrations and land-use change on these fluxes. An important component of my work involves the use of stable isotopes as tracers to better quantify small changes in these fluxes that might not otherwise be detected. I also use stable isotopes in terrestrial proxies (tree rings, packrat middens, pedogenic carbonates) to reconstruct past changes in climate and hydrology.Current research projects evaluate ecosystem-scale consequences of climate change in semi-arid grassland, and of bark beetle induced mortality in lodgepole and spruce-fir forests. We are investigating mechanisms that explain how altered biogeochemical cycles can feed back to climate change and disturbance.
Frank J. Rahel
Professor of Zoology and Physiology
E-mail: frahel@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Dan Gibson-Reinemer
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My
research involves fish ecology with a particular focus on streams,
habitat relationships, and landscape ecology. My graduate students and I
are addressing issues of fish habitat use and movement patterns in
regards to both large spatial scales and patchiness. We are interested
in what constitutes a habitat patch, how patches are rearranged by
disturbances such as floods, and what factors influence fish movement
among patches. Another area of interest is the homogenization of aquatic
biota across the world through habitat alteration and species
introductions. Much of our research involves species of conservation
concern including native trout and nongame fishes such as native minnows
in prairie streams. One of our current projects in this area involves
the role of irrigation canals as a population sink for cutthroat trout.
William A. Reiners
Professor of Botany
E-mail: reiners@uwyo.edu | Recent Publications
Students: Jason Edwards
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Research
in my lab is primarily at the ecosystem level--particularly
biogeochemical processes with a strong temporal-spatial orientation. My
long-term goal is to better understand the controls of ecological
processes across a wide range of scales, from meters to kilometers to
1000s of kilometers. Typically, my colleagues and I examine these
processes in the context of temporal variation as resulting from
disturbance events followed by succession, and in terms of spatial
variation occurring across landscapes or regions. GIS and remote sensing
tools are involved in virtually all projects in his lab. While
ecosystem questions are foremost in our laboratory, many activities
could also be described as "landscape ecology." We are involved in
producing ecologically meaningful maps of local landscapes and the state
as a whole, and in modeling processes such as alien plant invasions,
pollen transport and redistribution of snow by wind using GIS and
statistical tools. A primary focal area is on the propagation of cause
and effect across landscapes through transport mechanisms.
Bryan Shuman
Associate Professor of Geology and Geophysics
E-mail: bshuman@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: John Calder
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My
research focuses on long-term changes in the availability of water, and
how these changes shape ecosystem composition, pattern, and process. In
particular, I have been using geologic evidence to study how the water
levels of lakes in North America have changed over centuries to
millennia during the past 15,000 years, and am comparing these records
of past moisture levels with fossil and geochemical evidence of past
vegetation, disturbances, and other ecosystem phenomena. In doing so, I
seek to understand how ecosystems from the landscape- to
continental-scale respond to climate change. By comparing lake-level
data from across the continent, I am also examining the climatic
processes that cause moisture fluctuations through time. Students
working with me have worked on 1) paleoclimate reconstruction and
diagnosing the causes of past climate changes, 2) vegetation and fire
history reconstruction and examining the role of disturbance (fire) for
mediating vegetation responses to climate change, 3) spatially-explicit
landscape modeling of past ecosystem changes, and 4) improving our
understanding of the sedimentary and geochemical record of past
environmental change.
Ramesh Sivanpillai
Associate Research Scientists
Email: Sivan@uwyo.edu | Web Page
My research focuses on mapping vegetation types and monitoring vegetation condition and land cover change using remotely sensed data. Most of my work uses multispectral data collected from satellite and airborne platforms. Study areas range from small agricultural fields to large river deltas. Working with remotely sensed data acquired at different spatial and spectral resolutions enables me to assess the effect of scale or grain size on mapping vegetation and other earth surface features. My research sites are located in US (Wyoming and Texas), India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Peter D. Stahl
Associate Professor of Soil Science
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management
E-mail: unclem@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Caley Gasch
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The
foci of my research program are soil microbial ecology and restoration
ecology and the interface of these two disciplines. I employ an
integrated approach in my work combining analyses of community structure
and function as well as environmental influences. Topics we are
currently investigating include: 1) spatial and temporal variability of
soil microbial communities; 2) response and recovery of soil microbial
communities and their ecosystem functions to various forms of
disturbance; 3) influence of land management practices on soil microbial
community structure and function.
Dan Tinker
Associate Professor of Botany and Ecosystem Science and Management and Environment and Natural Resources
E-mail: tinker@uwyo.edu | Web Page
Students: Kellen Nelson
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Much
of my research is conducted in the Greater Yellowstone-Teton Ecosystem
in northwestern Wyoming, and involves ecosystem responses to large,
natural disturbances such as fire. In addition, I use GIS and remote
sensing to investigate the consequences of landscape-scale spatial
heterogeneity in ecological systems. My current work is focused on
understanding how the observed variation in post-fire plant communities
in the Greater Yellowstone-Teton Ecosystem affects important ecosystem
processes such as decomposition and nitrogen mineralization, how these
processes vary at the landscape scale, and how the effects of post-fire
community structure change over time in young, developing forests.
Annika Walters
Assistant Professor, Research Ecologist
Zoology/Physiology, USGS Wyoming Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit
Email: awalter8@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
I am interested in the resistance and resilience of aquatic communities to disturbance. My research addresses disturbances (flow alteration, climate change, nutrient loading, and energy development) that are relevant to the conservation and management of aquatic ecosystems through a combination of field observation, experimentation, and modeling. Recent projects have explored low flow disturbance in stream communities, nutrient loading by anadromous alewife, phytoplankton phenology, and the impacts of water diversion and climate change for juvenile Chinook salmon. Much of my current research involves fish that are of conservation concern and is set in a management context. My goal is to conduct research that has relevance to both basic ecological theory and fisheries management.
Naomi Ward
Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Botany
E-mail: nlward@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
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Our
research focuses on microbial genomics, ecology, and systematics, and
interactions between these research areas. Specifically, we study the
biology of the planctomycetes, acidobacteria, and verrucomicrobia, using
genomic and post-genomic approaches. These three groups, while
phylogenetically unrelated, are united in having a cosmopolitan
distribution in aquatic and terrestrial environments, and being
relatively understudied and poorly characterized. We are starting to
gain an understanding of their ecological importance - e.g. some
planctomycetes have been recently demonstrated to carry out the
anaerobic oxidation of ammonium (³anammox²), and it appears that anammox
planctomycetes play a significant role in the global nitrogen cycle -
but much work remains to be done. A secondary focus is the structure and
function of microbial communities, both free-living East African
savanna soils, deep-sea coral habitats, and Galapagos Rift hydrothermal
vents), and associated with the human host (gastrointestinal and
reproductive tracts).
Cynthia Weinig
Associate Professor of Evolutionary Genetics
Departments of Botany and Molecular Biology
E-mail: cweinig@uwyo.edu
Students: Matthew Rubin, Yulia Yarkhunova
The majority of variation segregating in natural populations is
quantitative, and its expression depends on genetic background,
environment, and interactions with these two factors. Traditionally, the
evolution of quantitative traits has been described using statistical
genetic techniques. However, one of the greatest advantages of these
approaches is also one of their primary limitations: it is possible to
estimate genetic variation and covariation in traits without any direct
knowledge of the underlying loci or molecular genetic details. In like
fashion, it is possible to estimate the pattern of natural selection on
quantitative traits in the absence of knowledge of loci that determine
fitness. Advances in collecting and analyzing molecular data promise to
reveal the molecular genetic basis of quantitative trait variation. In
our lab, we focus on understanding genetic mechanisms of adaptation to
competition, the role of the circadian clock in competitive responses
and in adaptation to seasonal settings, and the genetic basis of
quantitative variation in floral morphology. In sum, our work spans the
fields of ecology, evolution, and genetics.
David Williams
Professor of Plant Isotope Ecology
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management and Botany
E-mail: dgw@uwyo.edu | Web Page | Recent Publications
Students: Janet Chen
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I
am a plant physiological ecologist who uses stable isotopes to
investigate plant responses to environmental changes in space and time,
and the expression of plant metabolic functions at the ecosystem level.
My current projects focus on (1) the role of precipitation variability in grassland and savanna ecosystem dynamics, (2) integration of carbon and water cycles in environments characterized by pulsed resource renewal, (3) spatial and temporal patterns of resource capture by woody plant root systems, (4) plant controls on ecosystem water balance, and (5) isotopic records of plant responses to climate change in deserts.
