Ecology of Plant Invasions with Dr. Stacey Halpern
In Dr. Stacey Halpern’s lab, we study the effects of environmental change on the ecology and evolution of plants and plant-animal interactions. The current projects focus on the ecology of invasive plants. We are working with Solanum carolinense (Carolina horsenettle), a weedy plant that is native in North America but invasive elsewhere. The studies with this species explore the role of plant-herbivore interactions in plant invasions. Specifically, we are investigating a rarely-tested assumption, that natural enemies can suppress and regulate populations of their host plant. Our approach involves manipulating plant density in field experiments, measuring the responses of both plants and insects, and incorporating those responses into population models. This research is in collaboration with Dr. Nora Underwood at Florida State University.
We are also starting work with a local exotic plant, Digitalis purpurea. These projects will study the effects of variation in herbivores, pollinators, and water availability on plant traits important in reproduction and individual plant performance.
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Selected publications & presentations
Halpern, S. L. and N. Underwood. Approaches for testing assumptions about the role of herbivores in plant population dynamics. Submitted to Journal of Applied Ecology January 2006.
Burns, J. H., S. L. Halpern, and A. A. Winn. Do invasive species in the Commelinaceae pay a cost of opportunism? Submitted to Biological Invasions December 2005
Halpern, S. L. 2005. Sources and consequences of variation in seed size in Lupinus perennis (Fabaceae): Adaptive and non-adaptive hypotheses. American Journal of Botany 92(2): 205-213.
Halpern, S. L. 2004. Selection on morphology and phenology across water environments: Possible responses to climate change in Lupinus perennis. Oral presentation at the Ecological Society of America, Portland, OR.
McKone, M.M. and S. L. Halpern. 2003. The evolution of androgenesis. The American Naturalist 161(4): 641-656.
Halpern, S. L. 2002. Evaluating the potential for adaptive evolution in Lupinus perennis: Genetic variation and drought response in juvenile traits. Oral presentation at the Ecological Society of America, Tucson, AZ.