PAUL B. DREWA, PHD
Assistant Professor of Biology
Research Interests
My interests in ecology focus on the role of disturbance in structuring plant populations and communities. Numerous ecosystems are characterized by chronic, non-catastrophic disturbances that serve as agents of natural selection in influencing plant life histories. In particular, these disturbances create unique environmental conditions that many plant species have evolved to depend on for the completion of life histories. At the same time, most natural disturbance regimes have been altered anthropogenically, which in some cases has (1) increased abundances and expanded distributions of some guilds of plant species, but (2) has resulted in just the opposite for other guilds. This raises questions regarding the role of disturbance in influencing plant species coexistence over (at least) ecological time. And it affords an opportunity to test facets of ecological paradigms that relate to such issues. With these theoretical concerns in mind, I conduct both quantitative descriptive and experimental research that is designed to evaluate plant responses to natural versus anthropogenically altered characteristics of disturbance regimes. For example, my lab is examining the effects of fire regime manipulations on demographic responses of different plant guilds in oak-hickory forests and oak barrens of southern Ohio. We are also studying the influence of deer herbivory on plant population dynamics and community structure in fragmented, deciduous forests throughout northeastern Ohio. My research is geared not only towards testing theoretical aspects of plant population biology and community ecology, but it also generates results that can be used for refining conservation and land management strategies.
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