Leland Russell, PhD

Education
Professional Experience
Research Interests
Publications

Education

Professional Experience

• 2003-2004 Research Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 2001-2003 Post-Doctoral Associate, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 1999-2000 Teaching Post-Doctoral Fellow, St. Edwards University

Societies

• Ecological Society of America (Member)

Reviewer

• Ecology
• Web Ecology
• Ecography
   

Research Interests

My research addresses questions in plant population and community ecology. Two of my primary objectives are to enhance ecologists' understanding of how interactions among species determine the composition of ecological communities and how invasion by exotic insects and plants affects the functioning of interactions among native species. In particular, I am interested in the consequences of interactions between plants and the animals that consume plant tissues (herbivores) for sizes of plant populations and for the number of species and the relative abundances of species in plant communities. I am currently involved in research projects that 1) examine causes of spatial and temporal variation in the degree of damage by insect herbivores to their host plants, 2) quantify consequences of interactions among insects that attack different plant organs (i.e. roots, leaves, flowers) for over-all levels of herbivore damage to individual plants and for plant population growth rates, and 3) explore how the relative effects of insect herbivory, soil resource availability and seed availability on plant community composition vary along gradients in ecosystem productivity.

Publications

• Rose KE, FL Russell and SM Louda. In press. Integral projection model of insect herbivore effects on Cirsium altissimum populations along productivity gradients. Ecosphere.
• Crisler JD** and FL Russell. 2010. Patterns in beaver herbivory in south-central Kansas riparian woodlands. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 113:161-176.
• Russell FL, KE Rose and SM Louda. 2010. Seed availability and insect herbivory limit recruitment dynamics of a native thistle. Ecology 91:3081-3093.
• Russell FL and MN Spencer**. 2010. Combined effects of folivory and neighbor plants on Cirsium altissimum (tall thistle) rosette performance. Plant Ecology 208:35-46.
• Suwa T, SM Louda and FL Russell. 2010. No interaction between competition and herbivory in limiting introduced Cirsium vulgare rosette growth and reproduction. Oecologia 162:91-102.
• Russell, F.L. and A. Roy. 2008. Spatial variation in seed limitation of plant species richness and population sizes in floodplain tallgrass prairie. Oecologia 158:569-578
• Russell, F.L., S.M. Louda, T.A. Rand and S.D. Kachman. 2007. Variation in herbivore-mediated indirect effects of an invasive plant on a native plant. Ecology 88:413-423.
• Russell, F.L. and S.M. Louda. 2005. Indirect interaction between two native thistles mediated by an invasive exotic floral herbivore. Oecologia 146:373-384.
• Louda, S.M., T.A. Rand and F.L. Russell. 2005. Assessment of ecological risks in biocontrol: input from retrospective ecological analyses. Biological Control 35:253-264.
• Rand, T.A., F.L. Russell and S.M. Louda. 2004. Local- Vs. landscape-scale indirect effects of an invasive weed on native plants. Weed Technology 18:1250-1254.
• Russell, F. L. and S. M. Louda. 2004. Phenological synchrony affects interaction strength of an exotic weevil with  Platte thistle, a native host plant. Oecologia 139: 525-534.
• Russell, F. L. and N. L. Fowler. 2004. Effects of white-tailed deer on the population dynamics of acorns, seedlings  and small saplings of Quercus buckleyi. Plant Ecology.
• Louda, S. M., A. E. Arnett, T. A. Rand and F. L. Russell. 2003. Invasiveness of some biological control insects and  adequacy of their ecological risk assessment and regulation. Conservation Biology 17: 73-82.
• Russell, F. L. and N. L. Fowler. 2002. Failure of adult recruitment in Quercus buckleyi populations of the eastern  Edwards Plateau, Texas. American Midland Naturalist 148: 210-218.
• Russell, F. L. and N. L. Fowler. 2001. Effects of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on plants, plant  populations and communities: a review. American Midland Naturalist 146: 1-26.
• Russell, F. L. and N. L. Fowler. 1999. Rarity of oak saplings in savannas and woodlands of the eastern Edwards  Plateau, Texas. The Southwestern Naturalist 44: 31-41.
• McKone, M. J., R. Ostertag, J. T. Rauscher, D. A. Heiser and F. L. Russell. 1995. An exception to Darwin's  syndrome: floral position, protogyny and insect visitation in Besseya bullii (Scrophulariaceae). Oecologia 101: 68- 74.

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