Education

Uppsala University Ph.D., 1991, Ecological Botany
University of Wisconsin M.S., 1987, Botany
University of Wisconsin B.S., 1982, Botany & Geology

Positions Held

Professor 9/2006 - present
Associate Professor 9/2002 - 8/2006
Assistant Professor 9/1998 - 8/2002 (tenure: 5/2002), Department of Biology, Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota. Teaching courses in General Biology, Ecology, and various aspects of Botany. Pursuing research in forest population and community ecology. Advising undergraduate research projects, and some graduate students. Upgrading and maintaining BSU herbarium collection. Committee service and Honors Council.

Huxley Fellow, 9/1995 - 8/1998, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, Houston, Texas. Taught a general ecology course for undergraduates, co-taught a general botany course and a field ecology laboratory for undergraduates. Helped advise undergraduate research projects. Used existing and new data to parameterize a spatially explicit model of forest dynamics. Characterized spatial patterns of trees along a topographic moisture gradient.

Postdoctoral Research Associate, 9/1994 - 9/1995, Tennessee Valley Authority, TVA Forestry Building, Ridgeway Rd., Norris, Tennessee. Used a physiologically detailed model of tree growth to assess potential ozone effects on some tree species found in the eastern Tennessee river valley and adjacent areas. Developed protocols to parameterize model for a representative set of sites from available soil and climate data.

Postdoctoral Research Associate, 3/1992 - 8/1994 , Center for Biosystems Modelling, Department of Industrial Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. Organized and supervised a field study of photosynthetic rate in relation to water and energy balance in a post oak and red cedar landscape. Team taught a course in modelling plant growth and development.

Doctorand, 11/1987-12/1991, Institute for Ecological Botany, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Pursued a Ph.D. in Ecological Botany, testing the sufficiency of hypotheses about the nature of environmental gradients in Swedish forests using a unique simulation model based on the interaction of height cohorts of trees. Thesis title: Simulation modelling of some forested landscapes in Sweden. Disputation opponent: M.O. Hill. Thesis advisor: I.C. Prentice.

Scientist, 6/1989-8/1989, Young Scientists Summer Program, Biosphere Dynamics Project, International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria. Developed a general purpose stand simulator capable of efficient simulation of vegetation with a mixture of plant sizes and physiognomy.

Teaching Assistant, 9/1986-5/1987, Botany Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Taught labs and discussion sections in Introductory Botany and Plant/Human Coevolution. Completed thesis: The vegetation and development of young islands in the Lower Wisconsin River. Thesis advisor: T.F.H. Allen.

Graduate Fellow, 9/1985-8/1986, Botany Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Pursued M.S. degree with research on the scale dependence of vegetation patterns on young islands in the Wisconsin River.

Journeyman Bicycle Mechanic, 2/1979-9/1980, 4/1981-8/1985, Madison, WI. Assisted customers in repair and retail. Instructor in bicycle maintenance for U. of Wisconsin Student Union, 2/1984-12/1984.

Publications

Refereed Journal Articles

Shoemaker, R. and M. Fulton. (Accepted) The effects of prescribed burning in a reestablished prairie on monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus L.) and milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.) populations. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. Abstract

Shalene Jha, P.A. Harcombe, M.R. Fulton, & I.S. Elsik. 2004. Potential Causes of American Beech decline in Wier Woods, TX. Texas Journal of Science 56(4): 285-298. Abstract

Lin, Jie, P.A. Harcombe, M.R. Fulton , and R.W. Hall. 2004. Comparative analysis of growth and mortality among saplings in a dry Oak-Pine forest in southeast Texas. Texas Journal of Science 56(4): 299-318. Abstract

Lin, Jie, P.A. Harcombe, M. Fulton, and R.B.W. Hall. 2004. Sapling growth and survivorship as affected by light and flooding in a river floodplain forest. Oecologia 139(3): 399-407. PDF Abstract

Harcombe, P.A., C.J. Bill, J.S. Glitzenstein, M. Fulton, P.L. Marks, and I.S. Elsik. 2002. Stand dynamics over 18 years in a southern mixed hardwood forest, Texas, USA. Journal of Ecology 90(6): 947-957. PDF Summary

Lin, Jie, P.A. Harcombe, M. Fulton, and R.B.W. Hall. 2002. Sapling growth and survivorship as a function of light in a mesic forest of southeast Texas, USA. Oecologia 132: 428-435. PDF Abstract

Fulton, M.R. and P.A. Harcombe. 2002. Fine-scale predictability in forest stand dynamics. Ecology 83(5):1204-1208. PDF Abstract

Jie Lin, P.A. Harcombe and M. Fulton. 2001. Characterizing shade tolerance by the relationship between mortality and growth in tree saplings in southeastern Texas forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 31: 345-349. PDF Abstract

Fulton, M. 1999. Patterns in height diameter relationships for selected tree species and sites in eastern Texas. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 29: 1445-1448. PDF Abstract

Fulton, M. & I.C. Prentice. 1997. Edaphic controls on the boreonemoral forest mosaic. Oikos 78: 291-298.Abstract

Fulton, M. 1996. An application of fuzzy set ordination to determine tree habitat suitability of sites from a regional data set. Journal of Vegetation Science 7(5): 739-746.Abstract

Fulton, M. 1991. A computationally efficient forest succession model: design and initial tests. Forest Ecology and Management 42: 23-34.Abstract

Fulton, M. 1991. Adult recruitment as a function of juvenile growth rate in size-structured plant populations. Oikos 62(1): 102-105.Abstract

Fulton, M. 1991. Simulation modeling of the effects of site conditions and disturbance history on a boreal forest landscape. Journal of Vegetation Science 2(5): 603-612.Abstract

Other Publications

[Multiple Authors] Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Pine Island Bog Horticultural Peat Development (submitted to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, spring 2001.

Harcombe, P.A., R.B. Hall, J.S. Glitzenstein, E.S. Cook, P. Krusic, M.R. Fulton, & D.R. Streng. 1998. sensitivity of Gulf Coast Forests to Climate Change. In: Guntenspergen, G.R. & B.A. Vairin (eds.) Vulnerability of coastal wetlands in the Southeastern United States: climate change research results, 1992-1997. U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division Biological Science Report USGS/BRD/BSR-1998-0002. 101 pp.

Fulton, M. 1996. The digital stopwatch as a source of random numbers. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 77(4): 217-218. PDF

Fulton, M. 1993. A rapid simulation model for vegetation stand dynamics including mixed life forms. In: A. Solomon & H.H. Shugart (eds.) Vegetation Dynamics and Global Change. New York. Chapman & Hall.

Fulton, M. 1991. Simulation modelling of some forested landscapes in Sweden. PhD dissertation, Department of Ecological Botany, Uppsala University (Sweden). ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Comprehensive summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science 359. Uppsala. ISBN 91-554-2844-4.

Fulton, M. 1987. The vegetation and development of young island surfaces in the lower Wisconsin River. M.S. Thesis, Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In Preparation or Submitted

Fulton, M. (in revision) A regression and cross-validation alternative to Mantel tests.

Fulton, M. and P.A. Harcombe. (in preparation) Size and growth rate as predictors of mortality.

Fulton, M., J. Kamman, and M. Coyle. (in preparation) Physiological and anatomical correlates of drought stress in relation to height in Pinus strobus.

Presentations

Mantel tests are not the only way to examine relationships between dissimilarity matrices: a regression and cross-validation alternative. Poster. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 2008. Abstract

Hydraulic constraints on maximum height in Pinus strobus trees in northern Minnesota. With John Kamman (presenter), and Matthew Coyle. Poster. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 2008. Abstract

Monitoring the use of prescribed fire for oak savanna restoration at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge in central Minnesota. With Gary Swanson (presenter). Poster. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 2008. Abstract

Hurricane effects on the understory light environment of three forest plots in east Texas. Poster. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, San Jose, California, August 2007. Abstract

Revenge of the Trickster: Unpredictability in Modern Science. Public lecture (sponsored by Bemidji State University Honors Program). Bemidji State University, January 31, 2007.

Mortality responses of trees to growth and size for two sites in southeast Texas. Poster. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Memphis, Tennessee, August 2006. (with P.A. Harcombe) Abstract

Interpreting Monitoring Data. Invited Talk. Workshop on Vegetation Monitoring for Land Managers (organized by Minnesota DNR). March 22-23, 2006, Concordia Language Villages, Bemidji, MN.

Predictability of vegetation dynamics: From quadrats to landscapes, from years to decades. ORGANIZED ORAL SESSION (OOS #51) at Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Montreal, Canada. August 2005. Abstract

It matters how you slice it: space and time axes in the analysis of forest stand dynamics. Talk at organized oral session. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Montreal, Canada. August 2005. (with P.A. Harcombe)

Fine-Scale Predictability of Forest Community Change: Varying the Spatial and Temporal Windows Poster. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Portland, Oregon. August 2004. (with P.A. Harcombe)

All models are wrong but some are useful: Ecological modeling in science and natural resource management. Invited talk. Center for Research and Innovation, Bemidji, MN. March 2004.

Concisely characterizing forest dynamics with change vectors. Poster. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Savannah, Georgia. August 2003. (with P.A. Harcombe)

Are growth, mortality, and recruitment predictable in forest community dynamics? Talk. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin. 2001. (with P.A. Harcombe)

Spatial analysis of a Maple/Basswood plot: fine scale regularity and large scale clustering. Poster. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin. 2001. (with BSU undergraduate B. Arenz (presenter))Abstract

Fine-scale predictability of forest community dynamics. Talk. Third North American Forest Ecology Workshop. Duluth, Minnesota. 2001. (with P.A. Harcombe)

Size and growth rate as predictors of mortality in some East Texas trees. Poster. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Snowbird, Utah. 2000. (with P.A. Harcombe)Abstract

Growth in high light vs. survival in low light as a key tradeoff that determines shade tolerance: A test in a mesic forest in southeast Texas. Talk. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Snowbird, Utah. 2000. (with P.A. Harcombe, R.W. Hall, Jie Lin (presenting))

Chance and fine-scale predictability in forest stand dynamics. Talk. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Baltimore, MD. 1998. (with P.A. Harcombe)

Simulation of red oak responses to ozone across a region. Invited talk. Southern Appalachian Mountains Initiative, Ozone Assessment Workshop, Asheville, NC. 1996.

The sensitivity of Quercus rubra to ozone: Simulation as a tool to scale from individual level experiments to regional responses. Talk. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Providence, RI. 1996.

Spatial pattern of tree stems in three forests along a topographic moisture gradient in the Big Thicket. Talk. Big Thicket Science Conference, Beaumont, TX. 1996.

Life before self thinning; implications of the growth-survivorship equation. Talk. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Knoxville, TN. 1994. (with Hsin-i Wu)

Dissection and growth analysis of a post oak savanna stand. Poster. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Knoxville, TN. 1994. (with S. Cowin)

Cluster-Phase dynamics in vegetation. Talk. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Madison, WI. 1993. (with E.J. Rykiel (presenter) & S.R. Archer)

Simulation of growth of trees in complex vegetation using a 3-dimensional model of light extinction. Poster. 8th Annual U.S. Landscape Ecology Symposium, Oak Ridge, TN. 1993. (with Hsin-i Wu & R.S. Stahl)

Simulation modelling of a boreal forest landscape: The effects of autogenic processes, site conditions and disturbance history. Talk. Symposium of the International Association for Vegetation Science, Eger, Hungary. 1991.

Efficient landscape-scale vegetation modelling. Talk. Cooperative Holocene Mapping (COHMAP) workshop, Sigtuna, Sweden. 1990.

Hierarchical structure of vegetation-environment relationships on islands in the Lower Wisconsin River. Poster. Symposium of the International Association for Vegetation Science, Vienna, Austria. 1988.

A forest simulation model based on size cohorts. Talk. Workshop on forest simulation modelling in Europe, Wageningen, The Netherlands. 1988.

Graduate Students

Completed

John Kamman: Physiological Analysis of Hydraulic Constraints on Tree Height in Pinus strobus. Summer 2008.

Gary Swanson: Monitoring the effects of prescribed fire in the restoration of native plant communities at Sherburne N.W.R. Spring 2008.

John Snyder: Landscape simulation modeling of upland forests in Voyageur's National Park. Spring 2005.

Robert Shoemaker: The effects of a prescribed burn in a reestablished prairie on a monarch butterfly population. Fall 2003.

Ongoing

Matt Coyle: Anatomical analysis of hydraulic contraints on tree height in Pinus strobus.

Jeanne Ring: Vegetation dynamics on releve plots in the Chippewa National Forest. Ongoing.

Kristen Kirkeby: Deer browsing effects in Hobson School forest. Ongoing.

Courses Taught

Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota (sole instructor unless otherwise noted).
Introductory Biology, (majors). Fall 2000-annually. Lecture and lab section.
General Ecology. Fall 2000-annually. Lecture.
Advanced projects. Fall 2000-annually. Senior research projects.
Lab and Field Ecology. Spring 2001-annually. Lab.
Plant Form & Function (anatomy and physiology). Spring 2001-annually. Lecture and lab.
Honors Seminar. Spring & Fall 2003. Spring 2006.
Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data. Spring 2005, 2007 (graduate course).
Aquatic Plants. Fall 2001. Lecture and lab.
Plant Diversity (taxonomy). Spring 1999, Fall 2000-biennially. Lecture and lab.
Forest Ecology. Spring 2002-biennially. Lecture/lab.
Advanced Ecology. Spring 2000, 2001. Lecture.
Plant Physiology. Spring 1999, 2000. Lecture and lab.
Co-instructor: General Biology (non-majors). Fall 1998, 1999. Lecture.
Introductory Biology Lab. Fall 1999. Lab.
Plant Anatomy. Fall 1998. Lecture and lab.

Rice University, Houston, Texas.
Instructor: General ecology. Fall 1995 (co-instructor), 1996, 1997. Lecture.
Co-instructor: Plant Diversity. Spring 1996. Lecture and lab.
Co-instructor: Field Ecology Lab (undergraduate research projects). Fall 1995, 1996, 1997. Lab.

Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
Co-instructor: Graduate course, plant growth modeling. Fall 1993. Lecture.

U. of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
Teaching assistant. General Botany and plant-human coevolution,. Fall 1986 - Spring 1987.

MacFarland High School, MacFarland, Wisconsin.
Student teaching. 8th grade Earth Science and 10th grade Biology, Spring 1983. Lecture and lab.

Service

Chair of the Vegetation Section of ESA (Ecological Society of America), summer 2007-2009. Vice-Chair summer 2005-2007.

Ad hoc proposal reviewer for National Science Foundation 1997-current.

Referee for the Journal of Vegetation Science, Ecology, OIKOS, Conservation Biology, Applied Vegetation Science, Annals of Forest Science, American Midland Naturalist, and EcoScience.

Reviewer for Choice (Current Reviews for Academic Libraries) 2000-2003.

University Committees, Bemidji State University: Graduate Studies (current), Curriculum Committee (2000-2003, Chair 2002-2003), Honors Council (current), Bookstore Committee, Library Services Committee.

Webmaster for:
BSU Biology department since September 2002.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge section of ESA since 2004.

Co-organizer and webmaster for workshops held at Bemidji State University:
Floating and submersed aquatic plants of Minnesota, 3-4 August 2005.
Grasses of Minnesota, 12-13 August 2003.
Carex of Minnesota, 6-7 August 2002.

Coordinating paper judging for the NE Minnesota Regional Science Fair: 1999 - 2002.

Served on committees of two Ph.D. students at Texas A&M University, two masters students at Rice University.

Edit abstracts volume for the conference on forest ecology hosted by the International Association of Vegetation Science at Uppsala, Sweden, 1989.

Support

Funded

National Science Foundation #9816493, 9/1998-2/2002, collaborative grant (with P.A. Harcombe) Testing shade tolerance as a central element of forest dynamics theory using a forest dynamics simulator and long-term high-resolution data. $53,000

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 10/1999-5/2000, contract to upgrade Bemidji State University herbarium collection: update identifications; discard unusable and redundant collections; and create computer inventory. $5000

Tennessee Valley Authority, 6/96-9/97, subcontract to simulate responses of red oak and tulip poplar to ozone exposure.

Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Postdoctoral Fellowship, 9/94-9/95, for work at the Tennessee Valley Authority, Norris, Tennessee.

Doktorandtjänst (doctoral candidate salary), 10/87-12/91, from the Swedish Natural Science Research Council (NFR).

Davis Fund Grant, University of Wisconsin Botany, 5/86 for research on early succession on islands in the Lower Wisconsin River.

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation fellowship, 9/85-8/86, complete support for the first year of graduate study.

Personal

Married (Wendy A. Greenberg). Daughter (Lily) born 25-July-1997. Son (Joshua) born 30-June-1999.

Hobbies: folk dance, music, reading, natural history, rope-assisted tree climbing.