Dylan Fischer

Ph.D., Faculty

Forest Ecology

the Evergreen

State College

Kalaloch Thuja plicata on the Olympic Peninsula

ECOLOGY WORK

Research

Fischer-LeRoy Field Ecology Lab

Whole-Tree Water-Use

EEON Network

Belowground Ecology (fine root/ belowground carbon work)

Community and Ecosystem Genetics

Restoration

Plant Community Ecology

Programs

Field Ecology Writing on the Wild Side

Temperate Rainforests Plant Ecology and Physiology

The Olympic Peninsula Genes to Ecosystems

WELCOME

My research focuses on ecosystem function and community-ecosystem inter-actions. I like to take a genes -to -ecosystems approach, and I've worked extensively with a multidisciplinary working group using Populus as a model system. Although my work branches out in many different directions, at the core, I am always asking how diversity affects ecosystems. Much of my research is on trees because these tremendous organisms have a large effect on carbon, water and nutrient dynamics in forest ecosystems. Most of my papers deal specifically with how variation among trees affects communities and ecosystems in terms of water, carbon, and nutrient dynamics. This work has employed specialized technology to measure whole-tree and leaf-level physiology, fine-root dynamics, and ecosystem carbon flux. My lab's current work is divided between riparian cottonwood forests in Utah and Arizona, and temperate rain-forests in western Washington. I'm really excited about the work we've been doing estimating carbon budgets for diverse second-growth rainforests. For more on this topic, check out the links to the EEON project. My lab also continues to work extensively with an international working group in understanding how genetics affect ecosystems, from large herbivores and microbes to Carbon, water and Nitrogen budgets. Please check out our other websites for more on this topic:

http://www.poplar.nau.edu/

http://web.utk.edu/%7Ejbaile29/lab_default.html

zonting links

NEWS!

New Experimental Cottonwood Restoration Forest At Ohop Creek!

The Evergreen Ecological Observation Network (EEON) is now fully opperational! See link under "Research"

Rhizotron image from Fischer et al. 2006 used in new Sinauer textbook on Ecology by Cain, Bowman, and Hacker

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Fischer, DG, and A Kazakova.2008. Book Review: Harnessing Farms and Forests in the Low-Carbon Economy: How to Create, Measure, and Verify Greenhouse Gas Offsets. Environmental Practice. 10: in press.

Schweitzer, JA, JK Bailey, DG Fischer, CJ LeRoy, EV Lonsdorf, TG Whitham and SC Hart. 2008. Soil Microorganism-Plant Interactions; Heritable relationship between plant genotype and associated microorgansims. Ecology. 89: 773–781

Fischer, DG, SC Hart, CJ LeRoy and TG Whitham. 2007 Variation in Belowground Carbon Fluxes along a Populus Hybridization Gradient. New Phytologist. 176: 415-425

Bangert, RK, EV Lonsdorf, GM Wimp, , S M Shuster, DG Fischer, JA Schweitzer, GJ Allan, JK Bailey, TG Whitham. 2006. Genetic structure of a foundation species: scaling community phenotypes from the individual to the region. Heredity. 18 October 2006

Fischer, D.G., S.C. Hart, B.J. Rehill, R.L. Lindroth, P. Keim and T.G. Whitham. 2006. Do high-tannin leaves require more roots? Oecologia 149:668–675

Whitham TG, Bailey JK, Schweitzer JA, LeRoy CJ, Fischer, DG, Lonsdorf E, Shuster SM, Lindroth RL, Hart SC, Allan GJ, Gehring CA, Keim P, Potts BM, and Woolbright S. 2006. From Genes to Ecosystems: How Genes Structure Communities and Affect Ecosystem Processes. Nature: Genetics. 7:510-523

Kovacs, Z.I., C.J. LeRoy, D.G. Fischer, S. Lubarsky, and W.Burke. 2007 How do aesthetics affect our ecology? Journal of Ecological Anthropology. 10:61-65

G. Cox, D.G. Fischer, S.C. Hart, and T.G. Whitham. 2005. Nonresponse of native cottonwood trees to water additions during summer drought. Western North American Naturalist. 65: 175-185

Whitham TG, Lonsdorf E, Schweitzer JA, Bailey JK, Fischer, DG, Shuster SM, Lindroth RL, Hart SC, Allan GJ, Gehring CA, Keim P, Potts BM, Marks, J, Rehill BJ, DiFazio SP, LeRoy CJ, Wimp GM, and Woolbright S. 2005. “All effects of a gene on the world”: Extended phenotypes, feedbacks, and multi-level selection. Écoscience 12: 5-7.

Fischer, D.G., S.C. Hart, T.G. Whitham, G.D. Martinsen and P. Keim. 2004. Ecosystem implications of genetic variation in water-use of a dominant riparian tree. Oecologia 139:188-197.

T.G. Whitham, W.P. Young, G.D. Martinsen, C.A. Gehring, J.A. Schweitzer, S.M. Shuster, G.M. Wimp, D.G. Fischer, J.K. Bailey, R.L. Lindroth, S. Woolbright, and C.R. Kuske. 2003. Community and ecosystem genetics: a consequence of the extended phenotype. Ecology 84: 559-573

Fischer, D.G., T.E. Kolb, and L.E. Dewald. 2002. Changes in whole-tree water relations during ontogeny of Pinus flexilis and Pinus ponderosa in a high-elevation meadow. Tree Physiology. 22:675-685.