Dana Blumenthal Ecologist       CONTACT INFORMATION     ADDRESS: USDA - ARS          1701 Center Ave.          Fort Collins, CO 80526       PHONE: 970-492-7122 FAX:   970-492-7160     E-MAIL: Dana.Blumenthal@ars.usda.gov   Degrees    Research   Publications

DEGREES:

B.A.	Reed College	1992
M.S.	University of Minnesota	1999
Ph.D.	University of Minnesota	2001

Research Interests:

The objective of Dr. Blumenthal’s research is to help develop durable weed control strategies for rangeland ecosystems.  To this end, his research attempts to identify mechanisms that drive weed invasion.  Current research is focused on simple and interactive effects of two such mechanisms: release from natural enemies and increases in resource availability.  Specific questions the lab is currently asking include,

1.   Is the resource-enemy release hypothesis supported by existing data on enemy release?

2.   Is evolution often involved in plant invasion?  Where it is, what traits are evolved in the new range?

3.  How do global change factors such as N deposition, CO2 enrichment, altered precipitation, and warming, influence plant invasion in mixed grass prairie?

Top of Page

PUBLICATIONS:

Blumenthal, D, R.A. Chimner, J.M. Welker and J.A. Morgan. 2008. Increased snow facilitates plant invasion in mixedgrass prairie. New Phytologist 179: 440-448.

Blumenthal, D., and R. A. Hufbauer.  Increased plant size in exotic populations: a common garden test with 14 invasive species.   Ecology 88(11), Nov. 2007. pp.2758-2768.

Blumenthal, D., T. Booth, S. Cox, and C. Ferrier. 2007. Large-scale aerial images capture details of invasive plant populations.  Rangeland Ecology and Management 60:523-528

Ziska, L., and D. Blumenthal.  2007.  Empirical selection of cultivated oat in response to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide?  Crop Science 47:1547-1552.

Blumenthal, D.  2006.  Interactions between resource availability and enemy release in plant invasion.  Ecology Letters 9:887-895.

Blumenthal, D, U. Norton, J. D. Derner, and J. D. Reeder.  2006.  Long-term effects of tebuthiuron on Bromus tectorum.  Western North American Naturalist 66:420-425.

Blumenthal, D.  2005.  Interrelated causes of plant invasion.  Science 310:243-244.

Blumenthal, D. M., N. R. Jordan, and E. L. Svenson.  2005.  Effects of prairie restoration on weed invasions.  Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 107:221-230.

Blumenthal, D. M., N. R. Jordan, and E. L. Svenson.  2003.  Weed control as a rationale for restoration: the example of tallgrass prairie.  Conservation Ecology 7(1):6 [online]

Blumenthal, D. M., N. R. Jordan, and M. P. Russelle.  2003.  Soil carbon addition controls weeds and facilitates prairie restoration.  Ecological Applications 13(3):605-613.

Blumenthal, D. M., and N. R. Jordan.  2001.  Weeds in field margins: a spatially explicit simulation analysis of Cirsium arvense population dynamics. Weed Science 49: 509-519.

Blumenthal, D. M., and J. L. Jannink.  2000. A classification of collaborative management methods. Conservation Ecology 4(2): 13.  [online].

Belsky, A. J., and D. M. Blumenthal.  1997.  Effects of livestock grazing on stand dynamics and soils in upland forests of the Interior West.  Conservation Biology 11:315-327.

Top of Page