Profile of Dr. Monica Turner

University of Wisconsin
Zoology Dept, Birge Hall
430 Lincoln Dr
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 262-2592
Fax: (608) 265-6320
turnermg@wisc.edu

Current Position: Professor, Zoology Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Education: Ph.D., Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, 1985

Dr. Turner’s research has focused on understanding the causes and consequences of spatial heterogeneity in ecological systems, with particular emphasis on natural disturbances (e.g., forest fires, insects), invasive species and land-use change.  Her work links theory with field studies, and she helped catalyze the development of landscape ecology. Dr. Turner conducted long-term studies of the 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park that explored the effects of wildfire on patterns of post-fire vegetation and ecosystem processes (especially carbon and nitrogen dynamics).  Currently, her research focuses on the interactions of fire, bark beetles, and harvest in western forests; the effects of land-use patterns on native and invasive plants in the southern Appalachians; and connections between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Dr. Turner was elected in 2004 to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She has served on numerous advisory panels and committees for the Ecological Society of America, US Association for Landscape Ecology, National Research Council and National Science Foundation.  She is currently Co-Editor in Chief of Ecosystems and a member of the editorial boards of BioScience, Landscape Ecology and the Quarterly Review of Biology.