F. Leland Russell
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Dr. F. Leland Russell is Assistant Professor of the Dept. of Biological Sciences. He completed his dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin, and his Bachelor degree in Biology at Carleton College, Northfield, MN.
Dr. Russell's research addresses the roles that insect and mammalian herbivores play in determining the sizes and spatial distributions of plant populations as well as the species composition of plant communities. He believes that one of the fascinating aspects of herbivore-plant interactions is the large spatial and temporal variation in the amount of tissue that herbivores remove from plants and in the impact the herbivores have upon plant survival, growth and reproduction. Therefore, a major focus of the research that Dr. Russell and his students do is to understand the mechanisms that underlie this variability in herbivore damage and impact on plants. Recent studies have addressed variation in herbivore damage and impact in relation to ecosystem productivity, habitat complexity and prior damage by other herbivores. Understanding when and where herbivores limit plant population sizes can provide insights into the dynamics of weed populations and strategies for weed management. To this point, Dr.Russell and his students have addressed their research questions in Great Plains grasslands and savannas.
For more information on Dr. F. Leland Russell recearch and teaching, visit his web site at the Dept. of Biological Sciences.
Recent Submissions
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Demographic structure and genetic variability throughout the distribution of Platte thistle (Cirsium canescens Asteraceae)
(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2017-02)AimUnderstanding spatial variation in the demographic and genetic structure of populations is central to explaining causes of species range limits and to species conservation. The Abundant Centre Hypothesis (ACH) predicts ... -
Indirect interaction between two native thistles mediated by an invasive exotic floral herbivore
(Springer, 2005-12)Spatial and temporal variation in insect floral herbivory is common and often important. Yet, the determinants of such variation remain incompletely understood. Using 12 years of flowering data and 4 years of biweekly ... -
Interactive effects of insects, mammals, and soil fertility on grassland plant community structure
(2014-08)Background/Question/Methods Herbivory is expected to have important effects on grassland plant community structure and biomass. However, the effects of herbivores may be mitigated by plant resource availability, which ... -
Seed addition and spatial heterogeneity in grass establishment in a restored Kansas oak savanna
(2010-08)Background/Question/Methods Compared to their historical extent, oak savannas at the forest-prairie transition in the Midwestern United States are greatly reduced, in part, due to tree encroachment that produced closed ... -
Native grass establishment through seed addition in a southeast Kansas oak savanna restoration
(2013-08)Background/Question/Methods Globally, woody plant population expansion threatens savannas. Restoring savannas from woodlands can involve tree thinning, but often the herbaceous understory is non-existent and potential ... -
No interaction between competition and herbivory in limiting introduced Cirsium vulgare rosette growth and reproduction
(Springer, 2009-08)Both competition and herbivory have been shown to reduce plant survival, growth, and reproduction. Much less is known about whether competition and herbivory interact in determining plant performance, especially for ... -
High soil nitrogen levels and insect herbivory suppress tall thistle (Cirsium altissimum) rosette survival
(2012-08)Background/Question/Methods The effect of herbivores on plant performance is often highly variable and the causes of this variability are poorly explained for many herbivore-host plant interactions. Many of the proposed ... -
Combined effects of competition and herbivory limit population growth and spread of Cirsium vulgare: Demographic comparison of an introduced thistle with its native congener
(2011-08)Background/Question/Methods The European Cirsium vulgare is an invasive species worldwide, but in Nebraska it has remained at very low densities for over 200 years. The leading hypothesis is that pre-adapted, specialized ... -
Assessment of ecological risks in weed biocontrol: input from retrospective ecological analyses
(Elsevier, 2005-11)Prediction of the outcomes of natural enemy introductions remains the most fundamental challenge in biological control. Quantitative retrospective analyses of ongoing biocontrol projects provide a systematic strategy to ... -
Prediction in novel thistle-insect interactions: challenges of phenological and spatial variation
(2014-11)Quantitative outcomes of insect herbivore-plant interactions typically vary spatially and temporally. Prediction of where and when insects will impose significant damage, or mediate indirect interactions among plants is ... -
Integral projection models show exotic thistle is more limited than native thistle by ambient competition and herbivory
(Ecological Society of America, 2015-04)Both competitors and natural enemies can limit plant population growth. However, demographic comparisons of the effects of these interactions on introduced versus co-occurring, related native species are uncommon. We asked: ... -
Effects of apical meristem mining on plant fitness, architecture, and flowering phenology in Cirsium altissimum (Asteraceae)
(American Journal of Botany, Inc., 2014-12)Premise of the study: Interactions that limit lifetime seed production have the potential to limit plant population sizes and drive adaptation through natural selection. Effects of insect herbivory to apical meristems ... -
Historical patterns of oak population expansion in the Chautauqua Hills, Kansas
(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2014-06-18)AimRates of tree population expansion have increased in many North American landscapes that were mosaics of grasslands, savannas and woodlands historically. Consequences of woodland expansion include reduced economic return ... -
Insect herbivore effects on resource allocation to shoots and roots in Lespedeza capitata
(Springer, 2012-05)Aboveground and belowground processes in plants are intimately linked because the resources that must be divided among growth, maintenance, and development of essential structures are finite. To determine how aboveground ... -
Combined effects of folivory and neighbor plants on Cirsium altissimum (tall thistle) rosette performance
(Springer, 2010)Predicting how herbivory and neighbor plant interactions combine to affect host plants is critical to explaining variation in herbivores’ impact on plant population dynamics. In a field experiment, we asked whether the ... -
Seed availability and insect herbivory limit recruitment and adult density of native tall thistle
(2010-10)Understanding spatial and temporal variation in factors influencing plant regeneration is critical to predicting plant population growth. We experimentally evaluated seed limitation, insect herbivory, and their interaction ... -
Patterns in beaver herbivory in south-central Kansas riparian woodlands
(Kansas Academy of Science, 2010-09)Beaver (Castor canadensis) herbivory can strongly affect the physiognomy and successional dynamics of forests and woodlands near bodies of water. In the central and southern Great Plains, the riparian zones that occur in ... -
Invasiveness of some biological control insects and adequacy of their ecological risk assessment and regulation
(Society for Conservation Biology, 2003-02-23)The problem of invasive species has reignited interest in biological control as a management tool.Classical biological control involves deliberate release of exotic natural enemies into new environments in an attempt to ...
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