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Research in Ecology and Environmental Biology |
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Research in ecology and environmental biology is fundamental for understanding not only how populations, communities and ecosystems function but also how they might be managed and preserved. Particular research strengths of our department include the ecology of species interactions (especially host-parasite interactions), evolutionary ecology (especially life-history adaptations), tropical ecology, physiological ecology, and biotic responses to global change. Faculty and graduate students conduct field research both locally and abroad; they regularly work in the New and Old World tropics as well as in the southwestern U.S. and the protected Red Butte Canyon Research Natural Area immediately adjacent to campus. Fred Adler Spatially explicit models of competition and facilitation Dave Bowling Ecosystem ecology; biogeochemistry; CO2 and water vapor exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere Thure Cerling Stable isotope ecology and paleocology; environmental geochemistry Dale Clayton Behavioral and other interactions of parasites and hosts, especially feather-lice and birds; sexual selection Lissy Coley Plant defenses against herbivory in the tropics; bioprospecting and sustainable development of tropical forests Colin Dale Evolution of insect-bacterial associations; microbial diversity; ecology and evolution of symbiosis Dinah Davidson Ant-plant relationships as a model for specialized interspecific interactions; rainforest conservation Denise Dearing Plant-herbivore interactions; detoxification and behavioral amelioration of plant secondary metabolites; population fragmentation and hantavirus prevalence in rodents Jim Ehleringer Ecosystem dynamics of arid lands; ecology and evolution of C3 and C4 photosynthesis; biosphere-atmosphere gas exchange Don Feener Host-parasitoid interactions (especially between ants and phorid flies); ecology of indirect effects in ant communities; functional ecology of ant castes; insect biodiversity Harry Hirth Ecology of marine turtles; radiotelemetry of terrestrial reptiles; ecotourism and conservation Kevin Hultine Ecohydrology, Plant Ecology, Plant Ecophysiology, Riparian Ecology Tom Kursar Physiological ecology of rainforest plants; drought tolerance; chemical defenses against herbivory; applications of basic research to conservation of tropical rainforests Chun-Ta Lai Global carbon cycles and ecosystem ecology Wayne Potts Behavioral ecology and immunogenetics of MHC polymorphism; sexual selection; host-parasite coevolution; ecological functional genomics Jon Seger Evolutionary ecology, especially of life-history traits and sex allocation; tradeoffs and limits to adaptation John Sperry Plant water relations and responses to drought; causes and consequences of xylem cavitation; long-distance water transport in plants and soils Sylvia Torti Plant Diversity and Rarity |