USGS National Wetlands Research Center: Karen McKee profile

Karen L. McKee, Ph.D.

Karen McKee E-mail: karen_mckee@usgs.gov

Karen L. McKee, Ph.D. 1993. Botany, Louisiana State University. Wetland plant ecology and physiology, plant-animal interactions, disturbance and restoration of wetlands, wetland plant adaptations.

McKee's research program focuses on three major areas of interest: wetland plant adaptations, constraints on plant growth and distribution, and large-scale disturbance/restoration ecology. Past work has involved field and laboratory experimental approaches to test cause and effect relationships. Specific studies have provided insights into adaptations of wetland plants to environmental factors (e.g., flooding, salinity, nutrients); causes of wetland dieback, potential responses of wetland plants to global climate change, sea-level rise, and elevated CO₂; effects of small-scale (e.g., herbivory) and large-scale (e.g., hurricanes) belowground dynamics in and global change impacts on mangrove forests; and biogeochemical functioning of restored and natural wetland ecosystems.

Volunteer Information

Baldcypress volunteer network

McKee's NWRC Publications

The following list of publications is current only through 2001. For an update, please go to the online NWRC publications data base (http://librrefmgr.cr.usgs.gov?func=advSearch) to search for the bibliographic citations of individual staff members.

Refereed

Chabbi, A., K.L. McKee, and I.A. Mendelssohn. 2000. Fate of oxygen losses from Typha domingensis (Typhaceae) and Cladium Jamaicense (Cyperaceae) and consequences for root metabolism. American Journal of Botany 87(8):1081-1090.

Feller, I.C. and K.L. McKee. 1999. Light-gap creation in Belizean mangrove forests by a wood-boring insect. Biotropica 31(4):607-617.

Feller, I.C., D.F. Whigham, J.P. O'Neill, and K.L. McKee. 1999. Within stand nutrient cycling in wetland ecosystems. Ecology 80 (7): 2193-2205.

Feller, I.C., D. F. Whigham, McKee, K.L. and J. P. O'Neill. Nitrogen vs phosphorus limitation across an ecotonal gradient in a mangrove forest. Biogeochemistry. In press.

Lorenzen, B., H. Brix, K.L. McKee, I.A. Mendelssohn, and S. Miao. 2000. Seed germination of two Everglades species, Cladium jamaicense and Typha domingensis. Aquatic Botany 66: 169-180.

Lorenzen, B., H. Brix, I.A. Mendelssohn, K.L. McKee, and S.L. Miao. 2001. Growth, biomass allocation and nutrient use efficiency in Cladium jamaicense and Typha domingensis as affected by phosphorus and oxygen availability. Aquatic Botany 70: 117-133.

McKee, K.L. 2001. Root proliferation in decaying roots and old root channels: a nutrient conservation mechanism in oligotrophic mangrove forests? Journal of Ecology. 89:876-887.

McKee, K.L., and A.H. Baldwin. 1999. Disturbance regimes in North American wetlands. Pages 331-363 in L.R. Walker, editor. Ecosystems of Disturbed Ground, Ecosystems of the World 16. Elsevier, Amsterdam.

McKee, K.L., and P.L. Faulkner. 2000. Mangrove peat analysis and reconstruction of vegetation history at the Pelican Cays, Belize. Atoll Research Bulletin 468: 46-58.

McKee, K.L., and P.L. Faulkner. 2000. Restoration of biogeochemical function in mangrove forests. Restoration Ecology 8(3):247-259

McKee, K.L., I.C. Feller, M. Popp, and W. Wanek. 2001. Mangrove isotopic fractionation (15N and 13C) across a nitrogen versus phosphorus limitation gradient. Ecology. In press.

Mendelssohn, I.A., and K.L. McKee. 2000. Saltmarshes and mangroves. Pages 501-536 in M. Barbour and W.D. Billings, editors. North American Terrestrial Vegetation, 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Middleton, B.A. and K.L. McKee. 2001. Degradation of mangrove tissues and implications for peat formation in Belizean island forests. Journal of Ecology. 89:818-828.
Sorrell, B.K, I. A. Mendelssohn, K.L. McKee, and R.A. Woods. 2000. Ecophysiology of wetland plant roots: Modelling of aeration in relation to distribution. Annals of Botany 86(3): 675-685.

Other Peer Reviewed Publications

Feller, C., D.F. Whigham, K.L. McKee, C. Lovelock, and J.P. O'Neill. 2000. Decomposition and nutrient limitations in tropical mangroves. Page 370 in A. Crowe and L. Rochefort, editors. Quebec 2000: Millennium Wetland Event Program with Abstracts, Quebec, Canada, August 6-12, 2000.

Giraldo, B., and K.L. McKee. 2000. Belowground dynamics of Avicennia germinans. Page 351 in A. Crowe and L. Rochefort, editors. Quebec 2000: Millennium Wetland Event Program with Abstracts, Quebec, Canada, August 6-12, 2000.

Hester, M.W., I.A. Mendelssohn, and K.L. McKee. 2000. Species and population variation in salt tolerance in Panicum hemitomon, Spartina patens and Spartina alterniflora : morphological and physiological constraints. Page 458 in A. Crowe and L. Rochefort, editors. Quebec 2000: Millennium Wetland Event Program with Abstracts, Quebec, Canada, August 6-12, 2000.

McKee, K.L., and P.L. Faulkner. 2000. Restoration of the flood pulse and effects on structural and functional development of mangrove ecosystems. Page 401 in A. Crowe and L. Rochefort, editors. Quebec 2000: Millennium Wetland Event Program with Abstracts, Quebec, Canada, August 6-12, 2000.

Abstracts

Feller, I.C., McKee, K.L, Whigham, D., and Lovelock, C.E., 2001, Ecosystem structure and processes: mangroves [abs.]: ERF 2001: the 16th Biennial Conference of the Estuarine Research Federation, November 4-8, 2001, St. Petersburg, Fla., p. 43.

Howard, R.J., Wells, C.J., McKee, K.L., and McGinnis, T.E., 2001, Potential recovery of Spartina alterniflora from the summer 2000 dieback in Louisiana: a pilot study [abs.]: ERF 2001: the 16th Biennial Conference of the Estuarine Research Federation, November 4-8, 2001, St. Petersburg, Fla., p. 64.

Howard, R.J., Wells, C.J., McKee, K.L., and McGinnis, T.E., 2001, Recovery potential of Spartina alterniflora in dieback areas: a greenhouse pilot study [abs.]: Abstracts from "Coastal Marsh Dieback in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Extent, Causes, Consequences, and Remedies," USGS Information and Technology Report, USGS/BRD/ITR-2001-0003, 31 p.

Materne, M.D., McKee, K.L, and Mendelssohn, I.A., 2001, Sudden salt marsh dieback in coastal Louisiana: soil and vegetative conditions at 21 experimental sites [abs.]: ERF 2001: the 16th Biennial Conference of the Estuarine Research Federation, November 4-8, 2001, St. Petersburg, Fla., p. 87.

McGinnis, T.E., II, McKee, K.L, and Faulkner, P.L., 2001, Soil and belowground root dynamics in mangroves impacted by Hurricane Mitch, a large pulse event [abs.]: ERF 2001: the 16th Biennial Conference of the Estuarine Research Federation, November 4-8, 2001, St. Petersburg, Fla., p. 89.

McKee, K.L., Mendelssohn, I.A., and Materne, M.D., 2001, Sudden salt marsh dieback: update from 20 experimental sites in Terrebonne and Barataria Basins [abs.]: Abstracts from "Coastal Marsh Dieback in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Extent, Causes, Consequences, and Remedies," USGS Information and Technology Report, USGS/BRD/ITR 2001-0003, 31 p.

McKee, K.L, Feller, I.C., Popp, M., and Wanek, W., 2001, Mangrove isotopic fractionation (Delta ¹⁵N and Delta ¹³C) across a nitrogen versus phosphorus limitation gradient [abs.]: ERF 2001: the 16th Biennial Conference of the Estuarine Research Federation, November 4-8, 2001, St. Petersburg, Fla., p. 90.

Middleton, B.A., and McKee, K.L., 2001, Primary production of baldcypress swamps along a latitudinal gradient [abs.]: 86th Annual Ecological Society of America Meeting, August 5-10, 2001, Madison, Wis.

Rooth, J.E., and McKee, K.L., 2001, Facilitation of mangrove recruitment by herbaceous vegetation at a clear-cut site in Belize [abs.]: ERF 2001: the 16th Biennial Conference of the Estuarine Research Federation, November 4-8, 2001, St. Petersburg, Fla., p. 119.

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