About Dr. Howe's Research

I am interested in biotic and abiotic forces that alter the interactions of plant species. Current and recent projects include: (1) experimental restoration of diversity in tropical landscapes; (2) tests of fire season of and rodent effects in experimental tallgrass restorations; (3) effects of forest fragmentation on seed dispersal by fruit-eating animals; and (4) spatial demography of desert plants. Previous interests included sex-ratio adjustment in blackbirds, and the rhetoric of science, including the projection of expertise to non-scientists by scientists.

The students who have finished a Ph.D. with me are Norbert Cordeiro (effects of forest fragmentation on mutualisms in Tanzania), Denise Costich (cucumber dioecy in Spain), E. Allen Herre (fig-wasp sex ratio in Panama), Maria Luisa S. P. Jorge (rodent foraging in forest fragments in Brazil), Diane Larson (mistletoe-phainopepla mutualism in Arizona), Crisitina Martinez-Garza (traits for tree restoration in Mexico), Maria Miriti (spatial demography of California desert plants), Gabriela Nunez-Iturri (hunting effects on forest structure in Peru), Manoel Pacheco (Brazilian palm ecology), Sonali Saha (fire ecology in Indian dry forest), Eugene Schupp (tree dispersal in Panama), William Sluis (prairie succession in Illinois), Amy Sullivan (vole effects on prairie vegetation), and Barbara Zorn-Arnold (density and landscape effects on pollination). Current senior doctoral students are Luca Borghesio (avian ecology of montane Africa), Pia Sethi (effects of hunting on Indian forests), and Amy Sullivan (rodent effects on plant interactions). A new cohort of people starting doctoral work in 2007 includes Kesha Braunskill (seed dispersal by rodents), Carrie Seltzer (fruit-bat ecology in Tanzania), Mariana Valencia (mycorrhizae and tropical plant interactions), and Jenny Zambrano (recruitment of animal-dispersed tropical trees). Crystal Guzman is in the initial stages of master’s research (bat diets in forest and fragments in Mexico).

Representative Publications

More links to article downloads are available via the Complete CV link on the lab website.

Sullivan, A. T. and H. F. Howe. 2009. Prairie forb response to timing of vole herbivory. Ecology 90(5): 1346-1355.

Sethi, P. and H. F. Howe. 2009. Recruitment of hornbill-dispersed trees in hunted and logged forests of the Indian Eastern Himalaya. Conservation Biology 23(3): 710-718.

Cordeiro, N. J., H. J. Ndangalasi, J. P. McEntee, and H. F. Howe. 2009. Dispersal limitation and recruitment of an endemic African tree in a fragmented landscape. Ecology 90: 1030-1041. (plus appendix)

Howe, H. F. 2008. Reversal of fortune: Plant suppression and recovery after vole herbivory. Oecologia. 157: 279-286.

Kramer, A. T., J. L. Ison, M. V. Ashley, and H. F. Howe. 2008. The paradox of forest fragmentation genetics. Conservation Biology. 22(4): 878-885.

Nunez-Iturri, G., O. Olsson, and H. F. Howe. 2008. Hunting reduces recruitment of primate-dispersed trees in Amazonian Peru. Biological Conservation 141: 1536-1546.

Miriti, M. N., S. Rodríguez-Buriticá, S. J. Wright, and H. F. Howe. 2007. Episodic death across species of desert shrubs. Ecology 88(1): 32-36.