Val H. Smith

Professor
Ecosystem Ecology
Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Phone: (785) 864-4565
FAX: (785) 864-5321

Area of Interest and Research

My research program focuses on the relationships between resource supplies and the structure and function of biological systems. My primary area of expertise is in the area of phytoplankton ecology, and I have worked extensively on the relationships between nutrient loading and the occurrence of bloom-forming blue-green algae in lakes and estuaries worldwide. I have extensive experience in the quantitative comparative analysis of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and I have strong interests in the mechanisms that generate and maintain biological diversity. In addition, I interested in the mechanisms that regulate the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. I have recently expanded my research into the area of disease ecology, and I am involved in both empirical and experimental investigations of the relationships between host nutrition and the outcome of infectious disease in both plants and animals. In addition, I am actively involved in KU's Feedstock to Tailpipe Initiative; my team seeks to produce renewable biofuels from algae produced in wastewater-fed, outdoor bioreactors.

Representative Publications

Dzialowski, A.R. V.H. Smith, S.H. Wang, and F. deNoyelles. 2011. Effects of non-algal turbidity on cyanobacterial biomass in seven turbid Kansas reservoirs. Journal of Lake and Reservoir Management.

Foster, B.L., I.S. Khavin, C.A. Murphy, V.H. Smith, M.E. Ramspott, K.P. Price, and K. Kindscher. 2010. Integrated responses of grassland biodiversity and ecosystem properties to hay management: A field experiment. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 113: 103–119.

Souchu, P., B. Bec, V.H. Smith, T. Laugier, A. Fiandrino, L. Benau, V. Orsoni, Y. Collos, and A. Vaquer. 2010. Patterns in nutrient limitation and chlorophyll-a along an anthropogenic eutrophication gradient in French Mediterranean coastal lagoons. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 67: 743–753.

Foster, B.L., E. Questad, C. Collins, C. Murphy, V.H. Smith, and T. Dickson. Species availability mediates plant species sorting and community assembly across a soil nitrogen gradient. Journal of Ecology, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2010.01769.x

Smith, V.H., B.S.M. Sturm, F. deNoyelles, and S.A. Billings. 2010. The ecology of biodiesel production. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25:301-309.

Smith, V.H., and D.W. Schindler. 2009. Eutrophication science: Where do we go from here? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 24:201–207.

Frost, P.C., D. Ebert, and V.H. Smith. 2008. Bacterial infection changes the elemental composition of Daphnia magna. Journal of Animal Ecology 77:1265–1272.

Yanik, E.L., and V.H. Smith. 2008. Effects of food supply on susceptibility of Culex mosquitoes to the fungal biocontrol agent, Beauveria bassiana. Verhandlungen der Internationale Vereinegung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie 30(4):509–511.

Frost, P.C., D. Ebert, and V.H. Smith. 2008. Responses of a bacterial pathogen to phosphorus limitation of its aquatic invertebrate host. Ecology 89:313–318.

Dzialowski, A.R., and V.H. Smith. 2008. Context dependent effects of consumer identity and diversity on freshwater ecosystem function. Freshwater Biology 53:148–158.

Smith, V.H. 2007. Microbial diversity-productivity relationships in aquatic ecosystems. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 62:181–186.

Hall, S.D., M.A. Leibold, D.A. Lytle, and V.H. Smith. 2007. Grazers, producer stoichiometry, and the light:nutrient hypothesis revisited. Ecology 88:1142–1152.

Smith, V.H. 2007. Host resource supplies influence the dynamics and outcome of infectious disease. Integrative and Comparative Biology 47:310–316.

Hughes Martiny, J.B., B.J.M. Bohannan, J.H. Brown, R. Colwell, J. Fuhrman, J. Green, M.C. Horner-Devine, M. Kane, J. Krumins, C. Kuske, P. Morin, S. Naeem, L. Øvreas, A.L. Reysenbach, V.H. Smith, and J. Staley. 2006. Microbial biogeography: putting microbes on the map. Nature Reviews Microbiology 4:102–112.

Smith, V.H. 2006. Responses of estuarine and coastal marine phytoplankton to nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment. Limnology and Oceanography 51:377–384.

Smith, V.H. T.P. Jones II, and M.S. Smith. 2005.Nutrition and disease: An ecological view. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 3:268–274.

Hall, S.R., V.H. Smith, D.A. Lytle, and M.A. Leibold. 2005.Constraints on primary producer N:P stoichiometry along N:P supply ratio gradients. Ecology 86:1897–1904.

Smith, V.H., B.L. Foster, J.P. Grover, R.D. Holt, M.A. Leibold, and F. deNoyelles, Jr. 2005. Phytoplankton species richness scales consistently from laboratory microcosms to the world's oceans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 102:4393-4396. [This paper is ranked as Exceptional (8.1) by the Faculty of 1000 Biology.]

Smith, V.H. 2003. Eutrophication of freshwater and marine ecosystems: A global problem. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 10:126–139.