Helen Miller Alexander
Professor
Plant Population Biology
Ph.D., Duke University, 1982
7006 Haworth
Phone: (785) 864-3221
Fax: (785) 864-5860
Area of Interest and Research
I am fascinated by the population biology of plants. My work is primarily in three areas: 1) studies of the ecology and evolution of plant-pathogen interactions, 2) research on the population dynamics of wild sunflowers, and the ecology and genetics of hybridization between crop and wild plants, and 3) long-term demographic studies of a rare prairie plant, Mead’s milkweed, including using “mark recapture” models to estimate population size, detectability, and probability of survival.
Publications:
Alexander, H. M. 2010. Disease in natural plant populations, communities, and ecosystems: insights into ecological and evolutionary processes. Plant Disease 94:492-503.
Alexander, H. M., D. Pilson, J. Moody-Weis, and N. A. Slade. 2009. Geographic variation in dynamics of an annual plant with a seed bank. Journal of Ecology 97:1390-1400.
Alexander, H.M., N. Slade, W.D. Kettle, G.L. Pittman and A. W. Reed. 2009. Detection, survival rates, and dymanics of a cryptic plant, Asclepias meadii; applications of mark-recapture models to longterm monitoring studies. Journal of Ecology 97:267–276.
Moody-Weis*, J., J. Antonovics, H.M. Alexander, and D. Pilson. 2008. Predicting local colonization and extinction dymanics from coarser-scale surveys. Ecography 31:61–72.
Moody-Weis*, J. and H. M. Alexander. 2007. The mechanisms and consequences of seed bank formation in wild sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) Journal of Ecology 95: 851–864.
Alexander, H. M., S. Price**, R. Houser, D. Finch* and M. Tourtellot. 2007. Is there reduction in disease and predispersal seed predation at the border of a host plant’s range? – field and herbarium studies of Carex blanda. Journal of Ecology 95: 446–457.
Grman, E.** and H. M. Alexander. 2005. Factors limiting fruit production in Asclepias meadii in Northeastern Kansas. American Midland Naturalist 153:245-256.
Thrall, P. H., L. G. Barrett**, J. J. Burdon, and H. M. Alexander. 2005. Variation in pathogen aggressiveness within a metapopulation of the Cakile maritime-Alternaria brassicicola host-pathogen association. Plant Pathology 54:265-274.
Garrett, K. A., S. P. Dendy, A. G. Power, G. K. Blaisdell, H. M. Alexander, J. K. McCarron, 2004. Barley yellow dwarf luteovirus (BYDV) in natural populations of dominant tallgrass prairie species. Plant Disease 88:574.
Pilson, D., A. A. Snow, L. H. Rieseberg, and H. M. Alexander. 2003. Effects of a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) transgene on the fecundity and abundance of weeds: a case study of sunflower. Pages 173-189 in T. Lelley, E. Balaz, and M. Tepfer (Eds.), Ecological Impact of GMO Dissemination in Agro-Ecosystems. Proceedings of an OECD Workshop in Grossrssbach, Austria, Sept. 27-28 2002, Facultas Verlags- und Buchhandels AG, ISBN 3-85076-631-4.
Slade, N. A., H. M. Alexander, and W. Dean Kettle. 2003. Estimation of population size and probabilities of survival and detection in a population of Mead’s milkweed. Ecology 84:791-797.
Alexander, H. M. and A. M. Schrag**. 2003. Role of soil seed banks and newly dispersed seeds in population dynamics of the annual sunflower, Helianthus annuus. Journal of Ecology 91:987-998.
Snow, A.A., D. Pilson., L. H. Rieseberg., and H. M. Alexander. 2002. Ecological effects of pest resistance genes that disperse into weed populations. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on The Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms, October 2002 Beijing. (http://www.worldbiosafety.net/)
Cummings*, C. L., H. M. Alexander, A. A. Snow, L. H. Rieseberg, M. J. Kim, and T. M. Culley*. 2002. Fecundity selection in a sunflower crop-wild study: can ecological data predict crop allele changes? Ecological Applications 12:1661-1671.
Pilson, D., A. A. Snow, L. H. Rieseberg, and H. M. Alexander. 2002. Fitness and population effects of gene flow from transgenic sunflower to wild Helianthus annuus. In: Proceedings of a Workshop on the Ecological Effects of Transgenic Crops, March 2002, Columbus, OH (http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~lspencer/gene_flow.htm)
Cummings*, C. L. and H. M. Alexander. 2002. Population ecology of wild sunflowers: effects of seed density and post-dispersal vertebrate seed predation on numbers of plants per patch and seed production. Oecologia 130:274-280..
Alexander, H. M., C. L. Cummings*, L. Kahn*, and A. A. Snow. 2001. Seed size variation and predation of seeds produced by wild and crop-wild sunflowers. American Journal of Botany 88:623-627.
Snow, A. A., L. H. Rieseberg, H. M. Alexander, C. Cummings*, and D. Pilson. 2000. Assessment of gene flow and potential effects of genetically engineered sunflowers on wild relatives. pp. 19-25 in J. Schiemann (Ed.), The Biosafety Results of Field Tests of Genetically Modified Plants and Microorganisms: Fifth International Symposium, Biologischen Bundesanstalt fur Land-und Forstwirtschaft, Berlin und Braunschweig.
Alexander, H. M. and J. D. Mihail. 2000. Seedling disease in an annual legume: consequences for seedling mortality, plant size, and population seed production. Oecologia 122:346-353.
Kettle, W. D., H. M. Alexander, and G. L. Pittman. 2000. An 11-year ecological study of a rare prairie perennial (Asclepias meadii): implications for monitoring and management. American Midland Naturalist 144:66-77.
Cummings*, C. L., H. M. Alexander, and A. A. Snow. 1999. Increased pre-dispersal seed predation in sunflower crop-wild hybrids. Oecologia 121:330-338.
(*graduate student authors, **undergraduate student authors)