Lawrence R. Walker

Professor

Ph.D. University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Plant Ecology: Succession in Plant Communities, Community Responses to Disturbance, Restoration

lawrence.walker@unlv.edu

Research Interests

I am a plant ecologist interested in the mechanisms that drive primary plant succession. Primary succession can be defined as directional changes in plant communities after severe disturbances that leave no soil layers intact. Ecologists have been studying succession for about 100 years but are still in disagreement about what causes it, and even if it exists! Attempts at general theories that will explain successional change are useful exercises but are not readily applicable to specific examples of succession. My approach to this dilemma is to examine many examples in different systems, using similar methods, and then to look for similarities or differences between ecosystems.

Awards

• 2009-10     Wilder Chair in Botany, University of Hawaii, Manoa
• 2006     ISI Web of Science Highly Cited Scientist in Ecology/Environment, Thomson Scientific, http://isihighlycited.com
• 2003     Fulbright Senior Specialist Award, Iceland.
• 2001     Distinguished Researcher Award, College of Sciences, UNLV
• 1997     UNLV Barrick Scholar Award

Selected Publications

• Shiels, A.B., C.A. West, L. Weiss, P.D. Klawinski and L.R. Walker. 2008. Soil factors predict initial plant colonization on Puerto Rican landslides. Plant Ecology 195: 165-178.
• Wardle, D.A., R. D. Bardgett, L.R. Walker, D. Peltzer and A. Lagerstrom. 2008. Patterns of plant diversity across contrasting long-term chronosequences. Oikos 117: 93-103.
• del Moral, R. and L. R. Walker. 2007. Environmental Disasters, Natural Recovery and Human Responses. Cambridge University Press.
• Walker, L.R., J. Walker and R. Hobbs (Eds.). 2007 Linking Restoration and Ecological Succession. Springer.
• Walker, L.R., P.B. Bellingham, and D.A. Peltzer. 2006. Plant characteristics are poor predictors of microsite colonization during the first two years of primary succession. Journal of Vegetation Science 17:397-406.
• Wardle, D., L.R. Walker, and R.D. Bardgett. 2004. Ecosystem properties and forest decline in contrasting long term chronosequences. Science 305:509-513.
• Walker, L.R. and R. del Moral. 2003. Primary Succession and Ecosystem Rehabilitation.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Walker, L.R. (Ed.). 1999. Ecosystems of Disturbed Ground. Elsevier, Amsterdam.