Assistant Professor of Plant BiologyAssistant Professor of Plant Biology
Ph.D. 2000, Duke University
Email: Brian.Beckage@uvm.edu
Phone: 802-656-0197
Office: 125 Marsh Life Science Building
Research Area: Forest Ecology, Theoretical Ecology, Statistics
Courses Taught: Special Topics in Ecology (PBIO 295); Advanced Topics in Ecology (PBIO 296); Data Analysis for Biological & Environmental Scientists (PBIO 295)
I am an ecologist broadly interested in the dynamics of forests including tree demography, maintenance of species richness, and population dynamics in response to global change. I emphasize the use of quantitative approaches to investigate the mechanisms structuring forested systems, including statistical models, simple process models, and more complex, individual-based computer simulation models. There are four areas of research that I am currently most interested in:
(1) Disturbance and Forest Dynamics. My past work has shown that disturbance frequency can exert a strong influence on patterns of understory diversity in forests and that interactions between different disturbances can have strong effects on tree demography. I am currently studying the potential for disturbance to mediate the transition between forests, savannas, and open grassland systems. I am developing a savanna simulation model to investigate this process using data from field sites in southeastern pinelands, which can range from nearly open grassland to closed forest. Fire and hurricanes are frequent disturbances in these systems.
(2) Maintenance of Forest Diversity. Identifying the mechanisms that maintain species diversity in forest stands is a central question in plant ecology. My research in the southern Appalachians has examined the importance of several hypothesized mechanisms to maintaining species diversity. I have found little evidence supporting the role of regeneration niches, differential predation, or spatial heterogeneity in recruitment processes in contributing to species diversity within forest stands. Instead, I have found that recruitment limitation and temporal heterogeneity in recruitment may be more important for maintenance of diversity. I will continue to address these questions in Vermont forests.
(3) Tree Demography at Range Limits. Species distributions in North America have changed dramatically over the last 10,000 years of the Holocene and are likely to change rapidly over the next decades and centuries as global climate warms. To anticipate how forests will respond to these changes, we must understand the demographic processes and population constraints at species' range limits. I am interested in developing research projects to investigate these questions along a temperature gradient in Vermont and along a moisture gradient in Texas.
(4) Tree Invasions. Some introduced tree species rapidly invade native ecological communities, displacing native species, and disrupting community structure. Schinus terebinthifolius (Brazilian pepper), Melaleuca quinquenervia (Melaleuca), and Casuarina spp (Australian pine) are invasive trees in southern Florida that can form nearly monospecific stands. Understanding the characteristics that make these trees successful invaders in particular ecosystems has great theoretical and applied importance. I am interested in beginning a project to investigate the demography and characteristics of invasive tree species.