Faculty

Helen Miller Alexander - Plant Population Biology

Professor

Ph.D., Duke University, 1982

7006 Haworth

Phone: (785) 864-3221

Fax: (785) 864-5860

Area of Interest and Research

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. Alexander, and J. K. McCarron. 2004. Barley yellow dwarf luteovirus (BYOV) 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.

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.

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.

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 130:272–280.

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.

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. 2001. 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 für Land-und Forstwirtschaft, Berlin and 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. Oceologia 122: 346–353.

Holah*, J. and H. M. Alexander. 1999. Soil pathogenic fungi have the potential to afffect the coexistence of two tallgrass prairie species. Journal of Ecology 87: 598–608.

Cummings*, C. L., H. M. Alexander and A. A. Snow. 1999. Increased pre-dispersal seed predation in sunflower crop-wild hybrids. Oceologia 121: 330–338.

Slade, N. A., R. Gomulkiewicz and H. M. Alexander. 1998. Alternatives to Robinson and Redford: assessing overharvest from incomplete demographic data. Conservation Biology 12: 148–155.

Oudemans, P. V., H. M. Alexander, J. Antonovics, S. Altizer*, P. H. Thrall and L. Rose**. 1998. The distribution of mating type bias in natural populations of anther-smut Ustilago violacea (= Microbotryumviolaceum) on Silene alba (= S.Latifolia) in Virginia. Mycologia 90:372–381.

Mihail, J. D., H. M. Alexander and S. J. Taylor. 1998. Interactions between root infecting fungi and plant density in an annual legume. Journal of Ecology 86:739–748.

Alexander, H. M. and Holt, R. D. 1998. The interaction between competition and plant disease. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 1/2: 206–220.

Alexander, H.M., N.A. Slade and W.D. Kettle. 1997. Application of mark-recapture models to estimation of the population size of plants. Ecology 78:1230–1237.

Thrall, P.H., J.D. Bever, J.D. Mihail and H.M. Alexander. 1997. The population dynamics of annual plants and soil-borne fungal pathogens. Journal of Ecology 85:313–328.

Alexander, H. M., P. H. Thrall, J. Antonovics, A. M. Jarosz and P. V. Oudemans. 1996. Population dynamics and genetics of plant disease: a case study of anther-smut disease of Silene alba caused by the fungus Ustilago violacea. Ecology 77:990–996.

Davelos*, A. L., H. M. Alexander and N. A. Slade. 1996. Ecological genetic interactions between a clonal host plant (Spartina pectinata) and associated rust fungi (Puccinia seymouriana and Puccinia sparganiodes). Oceologia 105: 205–213.

(*graduate student authors, **undergraduate student authors)