Jim Coleman
Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Education
B.S. Forestry (concentration in Forest Pathology), Highest Distinction, University of Maine
M.S. Forestry and Environmental Studies (Ecology), Yale University
M.Phil. Forestry and Environmental Studies (Ecology), Yale University
PhD, Forestry and Environmental Studies (Ecology), Yale University
Postdoc, Biology, Stanford University
Postdoc, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
Courses Taught
- BIO 112: Principles of Biology II
- BIO 301: Ecology
- BIO 330: Evolution
- BIO 431: The Biosphere
- BIO 449/648: Plant Physiological Ecology
- BIO 499: Undergraduate Research
- BIO 600: Introduction to Graduate Studies
- BIO 731: Environmental Health Sciences I: Ecosystems to Organisms
- BIO 749: Lab Rotations
- BIO 790: Independent Research
Research
Current Laboratory Topics:
1. The biogeochemical cycling of mercury in response to different silvicultural practices aimed at restoring longleaf pine ecosystems.
2. Bottom up control of herbivory and parasitism: Microplastic contamination of soil and the tri-trophic interactions of soybeans, Mexican bean beetles, and a tachinid parasitoid wasp
3. Ecotypic variation in longleaf pine and its relevance to adaptation to climate change and restoration of longleaf pine stands.
Previous topics:
4. Ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore/plant-pathogen Interactions: Abiotic stress, plant phenology, leaf ontogeny and the performance of herbivores and pathogens that feed in different ways and/or are those that specialize on specific plant species or can feed on many different plant species.
5. The evolutionary ecology and function of low molecular weight plant heat shock proteins.
6. Interpreting phenotypic variation in plants in responses to environmental changes- particularly the importance of understanding the allometry of plant development in understanding resource partitioning
7. The response of individual plants to elevated carbon dioxide, changing temperatures, nutrients and drought.
8. Large scale responses of natural ecosystems to elevated carbon dioxide and to rising temperatures.
Selected Publications
Representative and Most Cited out of 80 and most recent..
McConnaughay, K.D.M. and J.S. Coleman. 1999. Biomass allocation in plants: ontogeny or optimality? A test along three resource gradients. Ecology 80: 2581-2593.
Coleman, J.S., K.D. M. McConnaughay and D.D. Ackerly. 1994. Interpreting phenotypic variation in plants. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 9: 187-191.
Ackerly, D.D., S.A. Dudley, S.E. Sultan, J. Schmitt, J.S. Coleman, R. Linder, D.R. Sandquist, M.A. Geber, A.S. Evans, T.E. Dawson and M.J. Lechowicz. 2000. The evolution of plant ecophysiological traits: Recent advances and future directions. BioScience 50: 979-995.
Smith, S.D., T.E. Huxman, S. F. Zitzer, T.N. Charlet, D.C. Housman, J. S. Coleman, L. K. Fenstermaker, J.R. Seemann, and R.S. Nowak. 2000 Elevated CO2 increases productivity and invasive species success in an arid ecosystem. Nature 408: 79-82.
Heckathorn, S.A., C.A. Downs, T.D. Sharkey and J.S. Coleman. 1998. A small chloroplast heat-shock protein protects photosystem II during heat stress. Plant Physiology 116: 439- 444.
Arnone, J.A. III, P.S.J. Verburg, D.W. Johnson, J.D. Larsen, R.L. Jasoni, A.J. Lucchesi, C.M. Batts, C. von Nagy, W.G. Coulombe, D.E. Schorran, P.E. Buck, B.H. Braswell, J.S. Coleman, R.A. Sherry, L.L. Wallace, Y. Luo and D.S. Schimel. 2008. Prolonged suppression of ecosystem carbon dioxide uptake after an anomalously warm year. Nature 455:383-386.
Ku, P., M. Tsz-Ki Tsui, H. Uzun, RA Dahlgren, T. C’Hoang; T. Karanfil; H. Zhong, A-J Miao, K Paln, JS Coleman, ATS Chow. 2024. Dominance of Particulate Mercury in Stream Transport and Rapid Watershed Recovery from Wildfires in Northern California, USA. Environmental Science and Technology. Open Access (ahead of print). pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acs.est.4c09364?ref=article_openPDF