HEATHER D. ALEXANDER
Graduate Research Assistant; PhD Student
Contact Info:
Dept. of Forestry
214 T.P. Cooper Building
Lexington, KY 40546-0073
Phone: 859-257-2806
Email: heather.alexander@uky.edu
Click here for curriculum vitae
Education:
Ph.D., Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. Expected 12/2008.
M.S., Marine Science, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. 2000.
B.S., Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. 1996.
Academic Interests:
The role of disturbances in altering soil conditions and structuring vegetation communities and the effects of individual species on ecosystem processes such as nitrogen and carbon cycling. My dissertation research deals specifically with prescribed fire effects on woody seedling growth and survival in eastern deciduous forests, especially oak regeneration, and the potential effects of shifting overstory composition on nitrogen and carbon cycling due to species-specific effects on throughfall, stemflow, and leaf litter quantity and quality.
Personal Interests:
Cooking, camping, hiking, gardening, running
Professional Affiliation:
Ecological Society of America
Society of Ecological Restoration
Advisor's name:
Dr. Mary Arthur
Selected publications:
- Alexander, H. D., M. A. Arthur, D. L. Loftis, and S. R. Green. In review. Ecological response of upland oak and co-occurring competitor seedlings following single and repeated prescribed fires. Submitted to Journal of Applied Ecology.
- Forbes, M., H. D. Alexander, and K. H. Dunton. In Revision. The effects of pulsed (floods) versus non-pulsed (wastewater) freshwater inputs on plant community structure in a semi-arid salt marsh. Submitted to Wetlands.
- Alexander, H. D. and K. H. Dunton. 2006. Wastewater effluent as an alternative freshwater source in a hypersaline salt marsh: Impacts on salinity, inorganic nitrogen, and emergent vegetation. Journal of Coastal Research 22(2):377-392.
- Alexander, H. D. and K. H. Dunton. 2002. Freshwater inundation effects on emergent vegetation of a hypersaline salt marsh. Estuaries 25(6B): 1426-1435.