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I
am a postdoctoral research associate in the School of Forestry at
Northern Arizona University. I briefly worked for the Department of
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan as a
postdoctoral research fellow after completing my Ph.D. from the
School of Forestry at Northern Arizona University in May 2001.
I
have a broad research interest in the field of botany, forestry, and
environmental science such as conservation biology, global
biodiversity conservation, plant ecological physiology, forest
ecology, forest health, environmental risk assessment, and ecosystem
management. My current research includes two major parts. First, I
am seeking the physiological mechanisms of woody plants in
resistance to insect herbivores. We want to address following
questions: why some trees are more resistant or susceptible to
insect herbivores than others of the same species within the same
stand? Are such variations under a genetic control? What are the
physiological mechanisms accounting for such differences in
resistance to insect herbivores?
How can we cooperate tree resistance mechanisms into forest
ecosystem management? Second, I am working on the national fire and
fire surrogate project (http://ffs.psw.fs.fed.us).
The purpose of this study is to develop a standard experimental
design and protocol for a national study of the consequences of fire
and fire surrogate treatments.
Our study emphasizes the effect of fire and fire surrogate
treatments on the population of bark beetles in ponderosa pine
ecosystems, and the assemblage of ground beetles (e.g. richness and
diversity) as ecological indicators of such treatments.
Recent Publications
Chen, Z., T. E. Kolb, and K. M. Clancy. 2002a. The role of
monoterpenes in resistance of Douglas-fir to western spruce budworm
defoliation. J. Chem. Ecol. 28: 897-920.
Chen,
Z., T. E. Kolb, and K. M. Clancy. 2002b. Effects of artificial and
western spruce budworm defoliation on the growth and biomass
allocation of Douglas-fir seedlings. J. Econ. Entomol. (in press).
Chen,
Z., K. M. Clancy, and T. E. Kolb. 2002c. Variation in budburst
phenology of Douglas-fir related to western spruce budworm (Lepidoptera:
Tortricidae) fitness. J. Econ. Entomol. (in review).
Chen,
Z., T. E. Kolb, K. M. Clancy, V. D. Hipkins and L. E. DeWald. 2001a.
Allozyme variation in interior Douglas-fir: association with growth
and resistance to western spruce budworm herbivory. Can. J. For.
Res. 31: 1691-1700.
Chen,
Z., T. E. Kolb, and K. M. Clancy. 2001b. Mechanisms of Douglas-fir
resistance to western spruce budworm defoliation: budburst phenology,
photosynthetic compensation and growth rate. Tree Physiol. 21:
1159-1169.
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