Jeannine Cavender-Bares
 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
Resident Fellow, Institute on the Environment (IonE)
Ph.D., Harvard University, 2000
Contact Information
Phone: 612-624-6337
Fax: 612-624-6777
E-mail: cavender@umn.edu
Graduate Faculty Memberships
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior; Plant Biological Sciences
Research Interests
Physiological ecology of plants
Application of phylogenetic methods to ecology
Evolution of plant function, environmental gradients and local adaptation
Phylogeography and conservation
Statement
The unifying goal of my work is to understand how functional traits of plants link evolutionary history to current ecological processes with consequences for ecosystem function and stability on an increasingly human dominated planet. My research program integrates levels of biological organization from cell and tissue function to ecosystem biology with a long-term goal of understanding the origins and organization of plant biodiversity and its consequences. In doing so, I bring together concepts and tools from physiological ecology, ecosystem ecology, and evolutionary biology.
There are several areas in which I am currently working. These include 1) investigation of the historical biogeographic and climatic influences on community assembly and local adaptation of populations in the seasonally dry tropical forests of northwestern Costa Rica, 2) linking phylogenetic history, plant traits, and environmental gradients to understand community organization at multiple scales in North America; 3) addressing how global change impacts biodiversity (in terms of functional and phylogenetic diversity) and ecosystem processes in human dominated landscapes, such as across urban to rural land use gradients, and 4) macro- and microevolution of ecophysiological function in oaks (Quercus). My students are working on a wide array of project that range from the impacts of habitat fragmentation on population genetic structure in live oaks, to the phylogeography of Douglas fir in relation to historical climate change, the mechanisms of niche differentiation in willow species at local and continental scales, and the ecological and evolutionary responses of invasive species to biotic control.
Selected Publications
Full publications list in PDF format http://www.cbs.umn.edu/cavender/publications.shtml.
Cavender-Bares J., Kozak K., Fine P. & Kembel S. (2009). The merging of community ecology and phylogenetic biology. Ecology Letters, 12, 693-715.
Cavender-Bares J. & Pahlich A. (2009). Molecular, morphological and ecological niche differentiation of sympatric sister oak species, Quercus virginiana and Q. geminata (Fagaceae). Am. J. Bot., 96, 1690-1702.
Cavender-Bares J., Izzo A., Robinson R. & Lovelock C. (2009). Changes in ectomycorrhizal fungal assemblages on two containerized oak hosts across an experimental hydrologic gradient. Mycorrhiza, 19, 133-142.
Cavender-Bares J. (2007). Chilling and freezing stress in live oaks (Quercus section Virentes): Intra- and interspecific variation in PS II sensitivity corresponds to latitude of origin. Photosyn. Res., 94, 437-453.
Cavender-Bares J., Sack L. & Savage J. (2007). Atmospheric and soil drought reduce nocturnal conductance in live oaks. Tree Phys., 27, 611-620.
Cavender-Bares J., Keen A. & Miles B. (2006). Phylogenetic structure of Floridian plant communities depends on taxonomic and spatial scale. Ecology, 87, S109-S122.
Cavender-Bares J., Cortes P., Rambal S., Joffre R., Miles B. & Rocheteau A. (2005). Summer and winter sensitivity of leaves and xylem to minimum freezing temperatures: a comparison of cooccurring Mediterranean oaks that differ in leaf lifespan. New Phytol., 168, 597-612.
Additional Links
Cavender-Bares Lab
Download EcoPhyl 2.0 (Cavender-Bares & Lehman).
Software for community phylogenetic analyses using matrix methods.
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