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Research
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Research Research Statement. I am an evolutionary ecologist whose work focuses on plant adaptation. I define evolutionary ecology as the study of the ecological meaning and consequences of biological fitness. The emphasis is jointly on organismal adaptation and the relationship of organisms and ecosystems, using a combination of theory, observation of natural pattern, and experimental manipulation. A portion of my work concerns the fundamental issues in evolutionary ecology that transcend taxonomic boundaries (e.g., optimal foraging, life histories). The majority of my research effort is devoted to contributing to the understanding of plant adaptations and their community consequences, particularly the acquisition of and competition for multiple limiting resources. Study systems include temperate old fields, forest, Bluegrass savanna, constructed wetlands, and tropical pasture. The central question in my current research is the integration of multiple resources by plants in uptake and utilization. I view the plant as a process that transforms an array of essential abiotic resources into plant biomass, and assume that the diversity of physiological and morphological features of plants can be best understood as a balancing of those multiple resources. A particular focus is on the control of growth rate by various characters (e.g. biomass allocation, tissue nitrogen, photosynthetic rates, nutrient uptake, specific leaf area), the relative plasticities of these different characters in relation to the predicted theoretical optima (optimal norms of reaction), and the ecological consequences of these differences along environmental gradients (nitrogen, water, light). This approach can contribute to understanding many aspects of plant biology, species competitive abilities and distribution, characteristics of the structure and dynamics of vegetation, and the response of plants to resource perturbations such as the increase in atmospheric CO2 . I am excited about the potential of these approaches, and others in plant evolutionary ecology, to contribute to a deepening of our knowledge of natural systems and an enlargement of our ability create a sustainable society. RESEARCH
PUBLICATIONS Srinivasan MP, Shenoy K, Gleeson SK. 2007. Population structure of Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) and its invasion impacts on the resident plant community in the grasslands of Nilgiris, India . Current Science 93(8):1108-13 pdf Adkison,
G.P. and S.K. Gleeson. 2004. Forest understory vegetation along a productivity gradient.
J. Bull Torrey Bot Soc. 131:32-44.
Gilbert, N.L., M.A. Arthur, S.L. Johnson, S.K. Gleeson, B.A. Blankenship.
2004.
Effects of
prescribed fire on physiology and growth of Acer rubrum and
Quercus spp. seedlings in an oak-pine forest on the Cumberland
Plateau J. Torrey
Bot. Soc. 130: 253-264.
Gleeson, S.K. and R.E. Good. 2003. Root allocation and multiple nutrient
limitation in the
New Jersey Pinelands. Ecology
Letters 6:220-227. pdf
Gleeson, S.K. and J. Fry. 1997. Root
proliferation and marginal patch value. Oikos
79:387-393.
Barton, A.M. and S.K. Gleeson. 1996. Ecophysiology of seedlings of Quercus spp.
and Acer rubrum across a topographic gradient in eastern Kentucky.
Forest
Science 42:335-342.
Sih, A. and S.K. Gleeson. 1995. A limits-oriented approach to
evolutionary ecology.
Trends in Ecology and Evolution 10:378-382.
Gleeson, S.K., A.B. Clark, and L.A. Dugatkin. 1994. Monozygotic twinning:
an
evolutionary hypothesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
91:11363-11367.
Gleeson, S.K. and D. Tilman. 1994. Plant allocation, growth rate, and
successional status.
Functional Ecology 8:543-550.
Gleeson, S.K. 1994. Density dependence is better than ratio dependence.
Ecology
75:1834-35.
Matlack, G.R., S.K. Gleeson, and R.E. Good. 1993. Treefall in a mixed oak
pine coastal
plain forest: immediate and historical causation.
Ecology 74:1559-1566.
Gleeson, S.K. 1993. Optimization of tissue nitrogen and root-shoot
allocation. Annals of
Botany 71:23-31.
Gleeson, S.K. and D. Tilman. 1992. Plant allocation and the multiple
limitation
hypothesis. American Naturalist 139:1322-1343.
Gleeson, S.K. and D. Tilman. 1990. Allocation
and the transient dynamics of succession
on poor soils. Ecology 71:1144‑1155.
Zak, D.R., D.F.
Grigal, S.K. Gleeson, and D. Tilman. 1990. Carbon and nitrogen cycling
during secondary succession: constraints on plant and microbial
productivity.
Biogeochemistry 11:111-129.
Gleeson, S.K. 1987. Biomass allocation in Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.
Dissertation.
Michigan State University.
Gleeson, S.K. 1987. Fitness, reproductive value, and Cole's result. Oikos
48:116‑119.
Gleeson, S.K. and D.S. Wilson. 1986. Equilibrium diet: optimal foraging
and prey
coexistence. Oikos 46:
139‑144.
Gleeson, S.K. 1984. Medawar's theory of senescence. J. Theor. Biol.
108:475‑479.
Gleeson, S.K. 1982. Heterodichogamy in walnuts: inheritance and stable
ratios. Evolution
36:892‑902.
Gleeson, S.K. 1981. Character displacement in flowering phenologies.
Oecologia
51:294‑295.
Gleeson, S.K. 1980. Optimization in some predator-prey models. M.S.
Thesis. University
of California, Davis. ABSTRACTS
AND REVIEWS
Review of F. Schieving’s “Plato’s Plant: on the mathematical
structure of simple plants and canopies”. Journal of
Vegetation Science 11:613-614 (2000). (book review, solicited)
Review of L.A. Dugatkin and K.K.Reeve, eds. “Game theory and animal
behavior”. Quarterly Review of Biology
74(4):497 (1999). (book review, solicited)
Gleeson, S.K., and R.E. Good. 1994. Selective root foraging and limiting
factors in the
New Jersey Pinelands. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 75(2)
Fry J. and S.K. Gleeson. 1994. Root response to resource patches in five
grass species.
Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 75(2)
Harper, T.M. and S.K. Gleeson. 1994. Growth, allocation, and N/C response
to gradients
of density and nitrogen supply. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 75(2)
Barton, A.M. and S.K. Gleeson. 1994.Physiological responses of tree
seedlings
across a moisture gradient in eastern Kentucky. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer.
75(2)
Gleeson, S.K. and R.E. Good. 1990. The abruptness of the root-shoot
transition
in terrestrial vegetation. Bull.
Ecol. Soc. Amer. 71(2):167. (abstract).
Gleeson, S.K. 1986. John Emlen's "Population Biology". Quart
Rev. Biol. 61:398 (book
review, solicited).
Wilson, D.S. and S.K. Gleeson. 1984. The evolution of interspecific
interactions. Quart.
Rev. Biol. 59:299-302. (book review, solicited).
Wilson, D.S. and S.K. Gleeson. 1983. A big book on sex. Evolution
37:428-430. (book
review, solicited). PRESENTED
PAPERS Gleeson,
S.K. 2005. Optimal allocation and multiple limitation by nitrogen, water, light
and CO2.
Meeting of Ecological Society of America at Montreal, Canada. August
2005. Wilkinson,
K.J., P.H. Crowley, and S.K. Gleeson. 2005. Factors that influence growth and
survival of Blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata) in the inner Bluegrass of
Kentucky.
Meeting of Ecological Society of America at Montreal, Canada. August 2005 Maric,
L. and S.K. Gleeson. 2005. Euonymous fortuneii: shade tolerance in an invasive
ground
cover. Meeting of Ecological Society of America at Montreal, Canada.
August 2005 Gleeson,
S.K and D. Tilman. 2004. Nitrogen saturation and resource isoclines during
grassland
succession. Gordon Conference on Metabolic Ecology.
Bates College, MN. July 2004. Gleeson,
S.K and D. Tilman. 2003. Nitrogen saturation and resource isoclines during
grassland
succession. Meeting of Ecological Society of America at Savannah, GA.
August 2003. Adkison,
G. and S.K. Gleeson. 2003. Distributions and light adaptations in a set of
forest violets
(Viola). Meeting of Ecological Society of America at Savannah, GA. August
2003. Robison,
L. A., S.K. Gleeson, D. Hill, and T. Biebighauser. 2003. Colonization of
constructed
wetlands in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Meeting of Ecological
Society of America
at Savannah, GA. August 2003. Gleeson,
S.K. and B Yeargan. 2002.. Limiting traits in early old field succession on a
rich soil.
Meeting of Ecological Society of America at Tucson, AZ. August 2002. Adkison,
G. and S.K. Gleeson. 2002. Trends in light adaptations of forest herbs on a
productivity
gradient. Meeting of Ecological Society of America at Tucson, AZ. August
2002. Netherton,
J. A., S.K. Gleeson, R. Myster, and X. Zou. 2002. Effects of shrub and herb
competition on tree seedlings in an abandoned pasture in Puerto Rico.
Meeting of
Ecological Society of America at Tucson, AZ. August 2002. Gleeson,
S.K., N. Fetcher, and J. Zimmerman. 2001. Plant traits and nutrient limitation
of
Cecropia in abandoned pasture
in Puerto Rico. Meeting of
Ecological Society of
America at Madison, WI. August 2001. Gleeson,
S.K., N. Fetcher and J. Zimmerman. 1999. Failure of a forest pioneer in Puerto
Rican
pasture. Invited symposium talk for “Oldfield succession in the
neotropics” symposium at
XVI International Botanical Congress, August 1999, St. Louis, MO. Gleeson,
S.K., and R.E. Good. 1994 Selective
root foraging and limiting factors in the New
Jersey Pinelands. Ecological Society of America (Knoxville, TN) Fry
J. and S.K. Gleeson. 1994. Root
response to resource patches in five grass species.
Ecological Society of America (Knoxville, TN) Harper,
T.M. and S.K. Gleeson. 1994. Growth, allocation, and N/C response to gradients
of
density and nitrogen supply. Ecological Society of America (Knoxville,
TN) Barton,
A.M. and S.K. Gleeson. 1994. Physiological responses of tree seedlings across a
moisture gradient in eastern Kentucky. Ecological Society of America (Knoxville,TN) Harper,
T. and S.K. Gleeson. 1991. Root/shoot
dynamics under variable nitrogen and density
conditions. Kentucky Academy
of Science. Hensley,
K. and S.K. Gleeson. 1991. Effects of root herbivory on competitive interactions
across
a nutrient gradient. Kentucky
Academy of Science. Dewitt,
L. and S.K. Gleeson. 1990. Above-
vs. below-ground effects of competition on plant
morphology. Kentucky Academy of Sciences. Gleeson,
S.K. and A.B. Clark. 1990. Twinning, parent-offspring conflict and the cost of
sex. Evolution Society, College Park, MD. Gleeson,
S.K. and D. Tilman. 1990. Root allocation and succession.
NSF LTER Root
Workshop, Michigan State University. Gleeson,
S.K. and R.E. Good. 1990. Root response to nutrient-enriched in-growth cores.
NSF LTER Root Workshop, Michigan State University. Seven
papers presented at national meetings prior to 1990.
Ecological Society (1982,
1986, 1988, 1989, including published abstracts), Evolution Society
(1981, 1983, 1985).
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