 Steven W. Seagle
Professor and Chairperson
Ph.D., University of Tennessee at Knoxville TN
My research spans community, ecosystem, and landscape ecology, with particular interest in how linkages across these levels of organization influence ecological processes. I focus largely on terrestrial systems and generally choose model organisms for their amenity to address interesting questions. Consequently I have directed research projects dealing with grasses, trees, amphibians, birds, and mammals. While this breadth of interest lends itself to basic science and theory, I have not shied away from applied questions and have often found the interface between theory and application a fruitful ground of study. Currently I focus on two topics: spatial subsidies of nutrients to food webs within different ecosystems in heterogeneous landscapes, and simulation modeling of multiple-use landscapes for production of ecosystem services. These projects are described in more detail below.
Project Title: Patchy Nitrogen Redistribution And Food Web Subsidies Caused By Deer Foraging In Multiple-Use Landscapes
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Project Summary : This project spans topical research issues from community, ecosystem, and landscape ecology by building on previous studies that have demonstrated the potential for large herbivores to influence ecosystem dynamics and the potential for detrital supplements to stimulate forest-floor food web productivity. Topics investigated include: patchy use of complex landscapes by large herbivores, the role of large herbivores in controlling terrestrial ecosystem processes, transport of nutrients among ecosystems in terrestrial landscapes, and the effect of spatial detrital and nutrient subsidies on food web structure in eastern North American deciduous forests.
White-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) have well-documented and often devastating impacts on forest regeneration and succession trajectories. However, little attention has been given to other impacts of deer on forest ecosystems. Because of feeding preferences and behavior, overabundant white-tailed deer in mixed forest-agricultural landscapes may transport (in dung and urine) significant amounts of nutrients from fertilized agroecosystems into remnants of native forest ecosystems. By doing so, deer create substantial, though patchy, spatial subsidies to forest nutrient budgets and the base of the forest-floor detrital food web. To examine potential community and ecosystem effects of these subsidies, research for this project (1) quantifies patchy use of landscapes by deer; (2) estimates the rate of nitrogen (N) transport into forest ecosystems by deer; (3) experimentally defines the bottom-up impact of these subsidies on key species of the forest-floor food web relative to top-down predation effects; and (4) measures subsidy impacts on forest leaf litter decomposition and soil net N mineralization. These tasks will collectively test current theories of community organization and food web subsidies, extend understanding of food web subsidies in terrestrial landscapes, characterize novel fates of N in human-dominated landscapes, and quantify unstudied ecosystem impacts of Eastern North America 's most common large mammal.
This research is being conducted in the mixed forest and agriculture landscape of central Baltimore County , MD , adjacent to the suburban sprawl of Baltimore City . Because of the flow of information, human capital, and natural resources between the City and this landscape, this research is directly relevant to NSF's Baltimore Ecosystem Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) project.
Project Title: Predictive Mapping of Forest Productivity in Western Maryland for Carbon Sequestration and Timber Production
Funding Agency: Maryland Center for Agroecology, Inc.
Project Summary : Industries that burn fossil fuels and emit carbon (C) to the atmosphere may be allowed to offset their emissions by purchasing C credits. In this process, industries offset their pollution by ensuring that C is stored in forests or other land uses. Because forest C storage, or sequestration, is a function of forest growth rate, a metric that quantifies forest growth is needed to rank sites for forest growth. Ideally, this metric should be comparable among sites and easily predicted. Forest productivity predictions are being made for the State of Maryland using a dynamic ecosystem model. Potential forest productivity information will be invaluable to industries interested in purchasing C credits and also to landowners who should be aware of the relative value of their property for this purpose. Collectively, this information should promote development of a healthy and fair C trading market.
The Maryland landscape is composed of a variety of land uses, as well as a mix of public and private ownership. Today, this landscape is looked to for production of many environmental services, including C sequestration, wildlife habitat, water quality, and aesthetic appeal. Low forest fragmentation reflects many positive aspects of these services. However, simultaneously maximizing C sequestration and minimizing forest fragmentation requires proper planning. Spatial optimization is a mathematical technique that will be used to predict where in the Maryland landscape promotion of C sequestration in forests will also decrease forest fragmentation. These results will promote both economic growth and conservation goals in Maryland , and lead to improved natural resource use on both public and private lands. This primary objectives for this project include: (1) Identify existing forests particularly valuable for C sequestration and non-forestland of high value for C sequestration if converted to forest; (2) Comparing forest C sequestration potential for (a) land in public and private ownership classes, and (b) current forest land and non-forest land; and (3) Apply spatial optimization analyses to identify land parcels and landscapes that can maximize forest C sequestration while significantly decreasing forest fragmentation. The relationship between C sequestered and decreased fragmentation may indicate the monetary investment levels necessary to have significant simultaneous impacts on multiple environmental services.
TEACHING INTERESTS
As a recent arrival to Appalachian State University, my teaching role is just beginning to evolve. I expect to teach an advanced undergraduate/graduate course in Landscape Ecology and a graduate science literature course entitled Foundations And Futures In Ecology. |
