Biography

Dr. Killingbeck’s research focuses on the ecology and physiology of plant nutrient dynamics in a wide variety of ecosystem types. Of particular interest is a nutrient conservation strategy termed nutrient resorption. Resorption is the process in which nutrients are withdrawn from senescing plant tissues and transported to perennial tissues for remobilization and reuse at a later time. Both the evolution of this process, and the mechanisms by which environmental factors influence resorption are of interest.

Additional topics of research being pursued at this time by Dr. Killingbeck include: (1) niche separation in a guild of shrub species growing in arroyos in the Chihuahuan Desert, (2) determining the efficacy of using Geographic Information Systems to predict site-specific levels of biodiversity from data on abiotic parameters of landscapes, and (3) the ecology of the C3 desert shrub ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) as it relates to the nutrient dynamics of this species, and as it relates to the possibility of using growth patterns in this species to reconstruct histories of environmental conditions in deserts.

Dr. Killingbeck’s students often pursue research out of the mainstream of his own ongoing work. Examples include studies on depth limitations in the fragrant water-lily (Nymphaea odorata), influences of rock and tree bark substrates on the nutrient dynamics of foliose lichens, and productivity and life history strategies of an emergent aquatic macrophyte (Juncus militaris).