Dylan Fischer

The Evergreen State College
ECOLOGY WORK
Research Teaching
Ecology Lab	Field Ecology
Ecosystem Genetics	Writing on the Wild Side
Belowground Ecology	Temperate Rainforests
EEON Network	Plant Ecology and Physiology
Restoration	The Olympic Peninsula
Whole-Tree Water-Use	Genes to Ecosystems
Plant Community Ecology	Education on the Wild Side

NEWS!

Nathan Lojewski's paper is now out in Tree Phys!

New paper by Bailey et al. compares genes to ecosystems effects above vs. belowground! Whoa!

New Whitham et al. book chapter takes a conservation approach to considering genes to ecosystems effects!

EEON is now fully

operational! See link under "Research"

Data Available online

LiDAR photo from the EEON site

Dylan G. Fischer

Ph.D., Faculty

Forest Ecosystem Ecology

New Site: http://blogs.evergreen.edu/dylanfischer

WELCOME

I am a faculty member at The Evergreen State College where teach plant and forest ecology. My focus is on applied field science approaches. I believe in learning through doing, and for many of my classes, that means conducting hands-on field experiments and observations. Even when not in the field, I like to teach through “immersion” in the scientific process and ecological science literature. Evergreen is an experimental college, and in keeping with this, I also try to have a new approach in every class. This means I get to try out many different ways of teaching. It also means I have a variety of past experiences teaching a wide diversity of classes. Some recent classes include, Field Ecology, Plant ecology and Physiology, Writing on the Wild Side, Temperate Rainforests, The Olympic Peninsula, Genes to Ecosystems, Educating on the Wild Side, and Introduction to Environmental Studies. Over the next two quarters I will be teaching Sustainable Forestry, and another new program called Plant Ecology Afield. Next year (2010-11) I will be teaching Field Ecology with Alison Styring (Ornithology faculty).

I also manage a small undergraduate field lab, the field and ecosystem ecology lab. The lab has done some really fun work in diverse ecosystems, and we manage the evergreen ecological observation network (a network of permanent plots in the campus forest- EEON).

If you are curious about my own individual research, check out the lab page with links to my research on tree water use, effects of plant genetic variation on ecosystem function, carbon flux, and belowground ecology.

Contact:

e-mail: fischerd@evergreen.edu

Phone: 360 867 6509

My research work has focused on ecosystem function and community-ecosystem inter-actions. A lot of my research is on trees because they have a large effect on carbon, water and nutrient dynamics in forest ecosystems. I like to address questions about how variation among trees affects communities and ecosystems in terms of water, carbon, and nutrient dynamics. I have worked extensively with a multidisciplinary working group using cottonwood riparian forests as a model system for understanding how intraspecific variation scales to affect ecosystems. I have also employed specialized technology to measure whole-tree and leaf-level physiology, fine-root dynamics, and ecosystem carbon flux. Current work in our undergraduate-focused Field and Ecosystem Ecology lab (see link) is divided between cottonwood forests (From Washington to Arizona), prairies of the south Puget Sound, and temperate rain-forests in western Washington. I'm really excited about the work we've been doing recently 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 our exciting collaborations with an international working group in understanding how genetics affect ecosystems using native Cottonwood forests. Please check out our other websites for more on this topic:

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

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

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Lojewski, N.R.*, D.G. Fischer, J.K. Bailey, J.A. Schweitzer, T. G. Whitham and S. C. Hart. 2009. Genetic basis of aboveground productivity in two native Populus species and their hybrids. Tree Physiology. 29: 1133–1142

Bailey, J.K., J.A. Schweitzer, J. Koricheva, M.D. Madritch, C.J. LeRoy, B.J. Rehill, R.K. Bangert, D.G. Fischer, G. Allen, and Thomas G. Whitham. From Genes to Ecosystems: Synthesizing the Effects of Plant Genetic Factors Across Systems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 364: 1607-1616

Whitham, T.G., C.A. Gehring, L.M. Evans, C.J. LeRoy, R.K. Bangert, J.A. Schweitzer, G.J. Allan, R.C. Barbour, D.G. Fischer, B.M. Potts and J.K. Bailey. 2009. A Community and Ecosystem Genetics Approach to Conservation Biology and Management. In Molecular Approaches in Natural Resource Conservation. Cambridge University Press (in press).

Fischer and Kazakova*. 2008. Book Review: Measuring Carbon Uptake in Forests and Farms. Environmental Practice.

Schweitzer, J.A., M. D. Madritch, J. K. Bailey, C.J. LeRoy, D.G. Fischer, B.J. Rehill, R.L. Lindroth, T.G. Whitham. 2008. Ecological impacts of foliar condensed tannins: a genes-to-ecosystem approach. Ecosystems. 11:1005-1020

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

Bangert, RK, EV Lonsdorf, GM Wimp, S M Shuster, DG Fischer, JA Schweitzer, GJ Allan, JK Bailey, TG Whitham. 2008. Genetic structure of a foundation species: scaling community phenotypes from the individual to the region. Heredity. 18 October 2006

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

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

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

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 S. Woolbright 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.

Whitham, T.G., 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.