About Dr. Howe's Research

I am interested in biotic and abiotic forces that alter the interactions of plant species. Current 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), 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 (bat ecology), Mariana Valencia (mycorrhizae and tropical plant interactions), and Jenny Zambrano (recruitment of animal-dispersed tropical trees).

Representative Publications

Kramer, A. T., J. L. Ison, M. V. Ashley, and H. F. Howe. 2008. The paradox of forest fragmentation genetics. Conservation Biology. DOI:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.00944.x.

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.

Zorn-Arnold, B., and H. F. Howe. 2007. Density and seed set in a self-compatible forb, Penstemon digitalis (Plantaginaceae), with multiple pollinators. American Journal of Botany 94(10): 1594-1602.

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.

Howe, H.F., B. Zorn -Arnold, A. Sullivan, and J.S. Brown. 2006. Massive and distinctive effects of meadow voles on grassland vegetation. Ecology 87(12): 3007-3113.

Howe, H. F., and M. Miriti. 2004. When seed dispersal matters. Bioscience 54:561-560.

Cordeiro, N., and H. F. Howe. 2003. Forest fragmentation severs mutualism between seed dispersers and an endemic African tree. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 100:14052-14054.