Associate Professor
Dept. of Biology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Ph.D. - University of Utah
Tel.: 301 – 405 – 1629
email: if2@umail.umd.edu
Research; Members of the Lab; Selected Publications; Teaching
Research Interests:
Plant Physiological Ecology, Plant Population Ecology, Biodiversity, Global Change, Heliotropic Leaf Movement
Research description:
Research in my laboratory is concentrated on the study of ecological and evolutionary relationships among plant structure, function, and the environment. I am especially interested in photosynthetic responses to global climate change, mechanisms of competition and facilitation among plants, and the relationship between individual plant response and population level response. We are presently involved in a long-term study of the response of plants to spatial patchiness and variation in the amount and timing of precipitation in a semi-desert community in northeastern Utah.
We are examining the water use and carbon gain responses of the perennial plant Cryptantha flava to this variable environment in order to find a mechanistic explanation for the population level responses documented in earlier studies by Dr. Brenda Casper at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Casper has nearly 20 years of data on the demography and population dynamics of this species. This project is supported by the Evolutionary and Ecological Physiology Program of the National Science Foundation.
Examples of current and past graduate student projects in my laboratory
include studies of competition between vines and their tree hosts in eastern
forests; the comparative water relations and photosynthetic responses of
temperate vines; the leaf movement, photosynthetic and water relations
of forest and beach legumes; the response of soybeans to UV-B radiation,
CO2 concentration, and water stress; the effects of
secondary succession on biodiversity in bog habitats; the effect of UV-B
radiation on competitive interactions among plants; the interactions among
pathogens, herbivores and vine hosts; and the metapopulation dynamics of
a rare and endangered tidal wetland plant species.
Current Research and Members
of the Lab
Representative Publications:
Forseth, I. N. and J. M. Norman. 1993. Modeling of solar irradiance, leaf energy budget, and canopy photosynthesis. In: Photosynthesis and Production in a Changing Environment: A Field and Laboratory Manual. D.O. Hall, J.M.O.Scurlock, H. Bolhar, R.C. Leegood, and S.P. Long (eds.) pp. 207-219. Chapman and Hall, London.
Kao, W. Y. & I. N. Forseth. 1993. Response of tropic leaf movements and photosynthetic gas exchange of N2-fixing and NO3-fed soybean to water availability. American Journal of Botany 80: 886-891.
Dillenburg, L. R., A. H. Teramura, I. N. Forseth & D. F. Whigham. 1995. Photosynthetic and biomass allocation responses of Liquidambar styraciflua (Hamamelidaceae) to vine competition. American Journal of Botany 82: 454-461.
Rosa, L. M. & I. N. Forseth. 1995. Diurnal patterns of soybean
leaf orientation under different levels of ultraviolet-B
radiation. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology78:
107-119.
Forseth, I. N. 1997. Plant Response to Multiple Environmental Stresses:
Implications for Climate Change and Biodiversity.
pp. 187-196. In. M. L. Reaka-Kudla, D. E. Wilson, E. O. Wilson.
(eds) Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting
our Biological Resources. Joseph Henry Press,
Washington D. C.
Cotgreave, P. & I. Forseth. "Introductory Ecology". Blackwell Scientific Ltd., Oxford. In pre-publication.
Forseth, I. N., D. A. Wait, & B. B. Casper. 2001. Shading by shrubs in a desert system reduces the physiological and demographic performance of an associated herbaceous perennial. (In press). Journal of Ecology. Abstract
Casper, B. B., I. N. Forseth, H. Kempenich, S. Seltzer, & K. Xavier. Drought changes leaf demography in Cryptantha flava (Boraginaceae). (In revision). Functional Ecology.
Griffith, A. B. & I. N. Forseth. Establishment and reproduction of Aeschynomene virginica (Fabaceae) a rare, annual, wetland species in relation to competing vegetation. (In revision). American Journal of Botany.
McElrone, A. J., J. L. Sherald, & I. N. Forseth. The effect of water stress on bacterial leaf scorch symptomalogy and growth of Parthenocissus quinquefolia infected by Xylella fastidiousa. (submitted) Plant Disease.
Peek, M. S., E. Russek-Cohen & I. N. Forseth. Nonlinear mixed models and response curve analysis. (Submitted) Ecology.
Teaching:
BSCI 460 Plant Ecology Lecture, 3 credits
BSCI 461 Plant Ecology Laboratory, 2 credits
BIOL 106 Introduction to Biology II, 4 credits
ZOOL 608A Advanced Plant Ecology Seminar, 2 credits
ZOOL 701 Teaching Zoology, 1 credit