Deborah A. Clark

DEBORAH A. CLARK, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin

Home Institution:
Department of Biology
University of Missouri-St. Louis

Mailing Address:
1384 Lindenwood Grove, Colorado Springs, CO 80907-7605

Telephone:
719-310-4168
E-Mail: deborahanneclark@gmail.com

Education:
1978 Ph.D., Zoology (minor in Botany), University of Wisconsin, Madison
1970 B.A., Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill


Professional Experience:

1994 - present Research Professor and Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Biology, UMSL.
1980 - 1994 Co-Director, La Selva Biological Station, Organization for Tropical Studies, Costa Rica.
1978 - 1979 Co-Director, Point Reyes Bird Observatory, Stinson Beach, California.


Current Research:

Carbon stores and fluxes in tropical forests. The responses of tropical forests to changing climate and atmospheric composition, and their role in the global carbon cycle. Tropical forest nutrient cycling. Population ecology, life history diversity, and ecophysiology of tropical rain forest canopy trees. Edaphic and human influences on the landscape distribution of tropical rain forest trees.

Publications:
(note - please email D.A. Clark directly to request any publications that lack a downloadable .pdf)

K. Cavanaugh, S. Gosnell, Stephen, S. Davis, J. Ahumada, P. Boundja, D.B. Clark, B. Mugerwa, P. Jansen, T. O'Brien, F. Rovero, D. Sheil R. Vasquez and S. Andleman. 2014. Carbon storage in tropical forests correlates with taxonomic diversity and functional dominance on global scales. Global Ecology and Biogeography DOI: 10.1111/geb.12143.

Olivas, P.C., S.F. Oberbauer, D.B. Clark, D.A. Clark, M.G. Ryan, J.J. O'Brien and H. Ordoñez. 2013. Comparison of direct and indirect methods for assessing leaf areaindex across a tropical rain forest landscape. Agriculture and Forest Meteorology 177:110-116.

Clark, D.B. and D.A Clark. 2012.  Annual tree growth, mortality, physical condition and microsite in an old-growth lowland tropical rain forest, 1983-2010.  Ecology 93:213 and Ecological Archives E093-019-D1 (http://esapubs.org/archive/ecol/E093/019/default.htm).

King, D.A. and D. A. Clark. 2011. Allometry of emergent tree species in a Costa Rican rain forest.  Journal of Tropical Ecology 27:573-579 (doi:10.1017/S0266467411000319).

Vandecar, K.L., D. Lawrence, & D. A. Clark.  2011. Phosphorus sorption dynamics of anion exchange resin membranes in tropical rainforest soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal 75 (4): 1520-1529. (doi:10.2136/sssaj2010.0390).

Clark, D.A. and D.B. Clark. 2011. Assessing tropical forests' climatic sensitivities with long-term data. Biotropica 43:31-40. (doi:10.1111/j.1744-7429.2010.00654.x).

Cavaleri, M.A., S.F. Oberbauer, D.B. Clark, D.A. Clark, and M.G. Ryan. 2010. Height is more important than light in determining leaf morphology in a tropical forest. Ecology 91:1730-1739.

Clark, D.B., D.A. Clark, and S.F. Oberbauer. 2010. Annual wood production in a tropical rain forest in NE Costa Rica linked to climatic variation but not to increasing CO2. Global Change Biology 16:747-759.   

Metcalf, C.J.E., C.C. Horvitz, S. Tuljapurkar, and D.A. Clark. 2009. A time to grow and a time to die: a new way to analyze the dynamics of size, light, age and death of tropical trees. Ecology 90: 2766-2778.

McGlynn, T.P., R.M. Fawcett, and D.A. Clark. 2009. Litter biomass and nutrient determinants of ant density, nest size and growth in a Costa Rican tropical wet forest. Biotropica 41(2):234-240.

Wood,T.E., D. Lawrence, D.A. Clark, and R.L. Chazdon. 2009. Rain forest nutrient cycling and productivity in response to large-scale litter manipulation. Ecology 90(1): 109-121.

Metcalf, C. J. E., J. S. Clark, and D. A. Clark. 2009. Tree growth inference and prediction when the point of measurement changes: modelling around buttresses in tropical forests. Journal of Tropical Ecology 25:1-12.

O'Brien, J.J., S. F. Oberbauer, D. B. Clark, and D. A. Clark. 2008. Phenology and stem diameter increment seasonality in a Costa Rican wet tropical forest. Biotropica 40:151-159.

Clark, D.B., P. C. Olivas, S. F. Oberbauer, D.A. Clark, and M.G. Ryan. 2008. First direct landscape-scale measurement of tropical rain forest Leaf Area Index, a key driver of global primary productivity. Ecology Letters 11:163-172. (Selected paper, Faculty of 1000 Biology)

Espeleta, J.F. and D.A. Clark. 2007. Multi-scale variation in fine-root biomass in a tropical rain forest: a 7-yr study. Ecological Monographs 77:377-404.

Clark, D.A. 2007. Detecting the responses of tropical forests to global climatic and atmospheric change: current challenges and a way forward. Biotropica 39:4-19.

McGlynn,T.P., R.R. Dunn, D.J. Salinas, T.E. Wood, D. Lawrence, and D.A. Clark. 2007. Phosphorus limits tropical rain forest litter fauna. Biotropica 39:50-53.

Chapin, F.S. III, G.M Woodwell, J.T. Randerson, E.B. Rastetter, G.M. Lovett, D.D. Baldocchi, D.A. Clark, M.E. Harmon, D.S. Schimel, R. Valentini, C. Wirth, J.D. Aber, J.J. Cole, M.L. Goulden, J.W. Harden, M. Heimann, R.W. Howarth, P.A. Matson, A.D. McGuire, J.M. Melillo, H.A. Mooney, J.C. Neff, R.A. Houghton, M.L. Pace, M.G. Ryan, S.W. Running, O.E. Sala, W.H. Schlesinger, & E.-D. Schulze. 2006. Reconciling carbon-cycle concepts, terminology, and methodology. Ecosystems 9:1041-1050.

Wood,T., D. Lawrence, and D.A. Clark. 2006. Determinants of leaf litter nutrient cycling in a tropical rain forest: fertility versus topography. Ecosystems 9: 700-710.

Clark, D.B. and D.A. Clark. 2006. Tree growth, mortality, physical condition and microsite in an old-growth lowland tropical rain forest. Ecology 87:2132 and Ecological Archives E087-132 (http://www.esapubs.org/archive/ecol/E087/132/default.htm).

Porder, S., D.A. Clark, and P.M. Vitousek. 2006. Persistence of rock-derived nutrients in the wet tropical forests of La Selva. Ecology 87(3): 594-602.

Wood, T.E.; Lawrence, D.A.; Clark, D.A. 2005. Variation in leaf litter nutrients of a Costa Rican rain forest is related to precipitation. Biogeochemistry 73: 417-437.

Karl,T., M. Potosnak, A. Guenther, D. Clark, J. Walker, J. D. Herrick, C. Geron. 2004. Exchange processes of volatile organic compounds above a tropical rain forest - implications for modeling tropospheric chemistry above dense vegetation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 109, D18306, doi:10.1029/2004JD004738.

Lovelock, C.E., S.R. Wright, D.A. Clark and R. Ruess. 2004. Stocks of glomalin produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in soil across a tropical rainforest landscape. Journal of Ecology 92: 278-287.

Clark, D.A. 2004. Tropical forests and global warming: slowing it down or speeding it up? Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment 2(2): 73-80.

Clark, D.A. 2004. Sources or sinks?: the responses of tropical forests to current and future climate and atmospheric composition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 359:477-491.

Clark, D.B, J.M. Read, M. Clark, A. Murillo Cruz, M. Fallas Dotti & D.A. Clark. 2004. Application of 1-m and 4-m resolution satellite data to studies of tree demography, stand structure and land use classification in tropical rain forest landscapes. Ecological Applications 14:16-74.

Fichtler, E., D.A. Clark, and M. Worbes. 2003. Age and long-term growth of trees in an old-growth tropical rain forest, based on analyses of tree rings and 14C. Biotropica 35(3):306-317.

Clark, D.A., S.C. Piper, C.D. Keeling, and D.B. Clark. 2003. Tropical rain forest tree growth and atmospheric carbon dynamics linked to interannual temperature variation during 1984-2000. PNAS 100(10):5852-5857.

Veldkamp, E., A. Becker, L. Schwendenmann, D.A. Clark, and H. Schulte-Bisping. 2003. Substantial labile carbon stocks and microbial activity in deeply weathered soils below a tropical wet forest. Global Change Biology 9:1171-1184.

Clark, D.A. 2002. Are tropical forests an important carbon sink?: reanalysis of the long-term plot data. Ecological Applications 12:3-7.

Geron, C., A. Guenther, J. Greenberg, H.W. Loescher, and D.A. Clark. 2002. Biogenic volatile organic compound emissions from a rain forest in Costa Rica. Atmospheric Environment.

Davidson, E.A., K. Savage, P. Bolstad, D.A. Clark, P.S. Curtis, D.S. Ellsworth, P.J. Hanson, B.E. Law, Y. Luo, K.S. Pregitzer, J.C. Randolph, and D.Zak. 2002. Belowground carbon allocation in forests estimated from litterfall and IRGA-based soil respiration measurements. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology.

Clark, D.B., D.A. Clark, S. Brown, S.F. Oberbauer, and E.Veldkamp. 2002. Stocks and flows of coarse woody debris across a tropical rain forest nutrient and topography gradient. Forest Ecology and Management 164:237-248.

Clark, D.A., and D.B. Clark. 2001. Getting to the canopy: tree height growth in a neotropical rain forest. Ecology 82:1460-1472.

Clark, D.A., S. Brown, D. Kicklighter, J. Chambers, J.R. Thomlinson, and Jian Ni. 2001. Measuring net primary production in forests: concepts and field methods. Ecological Applications 11:356-370.

Clark, D.A., S. Brown, D. Kicklighter, J. Chambers, J.R. Thomlinson, Jian Ni, and E.A. Holland. 2001. NPP in tropical forests: an evaluation and synthesis of existing field data. Ecological Applications 11: 371-384.

Clark, D.A., S. Brown, D. Kicklighter, J. Chambers, J.R. Thomlinson, Jian Ni, and E.A. Holland. 2001. Appendix 1. Estimates from the literature of net primary productivity in tropical forests. Ecological Archives A011-006.

Palmer, M.W., D.B. Clark, and D.A. Clark. 2000. Is the number of tree species in small tropical forest plots nonrandom? Community Ecology 1:95-101.

Clark, D.B., and D.A. Clark. 2000. Landscape-scale variation in forest structure and biomass in a tropical rain forest. Forest Ecology and Management 137:185-198.

Clark, D.B. and D.A. Clark. 2000. Tree growth, mortality, physical condition, and microsite in old-growth lowland tropical rain forest. Ecology 81:294 and Ecological Archives.

Clark, D.A., and D.B. Clark. 1999. Assessing the growth of tropical rain forest trees: issues for forest modeling and management. Ecological Applications 9: 981-997.

Clark, D.B., M. Palmer and D.A. Clark. 1999. Edaphic factors and the landscape-scale distribution of tropical rain forest trees. Ecology 80(8):2662-2675.

Clark, D.A. 1998. Deciphering landscape mosaics of neotropical trees: GIS and systematic sampling provide new views of tropical rain forest diversity. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 85:18-33.

Sterck,F.J., D.B. Clark, D.A. Clark, and F. Bongers. 1998. Light fluctuations, crown traits, and response delays for tree saplings in a Costa Rican lowland rain forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 15:83-95.

Clark, D.A. 1998. Manu: the biodiversity of Southeastern Peru, la biodiversidad del sureste del Perú. Journal of Tropical Ecology. 14:562-563. (book review).

Clark, D.B., D.A. Clark, and J.M. Read. 1998. Edaphic variation and the mesoscale distribution of tree species in a neotropical rain forest. Journal of Ecology 86:101-112.

Keller, M., D.A. Clark, D.B. Clark, A. Weitz, E. Veldkamp. 1996. If a tree falls in the forest. Science 273:201.

Clark, D.B., D.A. Clark, P.M. Rich, S. Weiss and S.F. Oberbauer. 1996. Landscape-scale evaluation of understory light and canopy structure: methods and application to a neotropical lowland rain forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 26 (5): 747-757.

Clark, D.B. and D.A. Clark. 1996. Abundance, growth and mortality of very large trees in neotropical lowland rain forest. Forest Ecology and Management 80:235-244.

Clark, D.A., D.B. Clark, R. Sandoval & M. Castro. 1995. Edaphic and human effects on landscape-scale distributions of tropical rain forest palms. Ecology 76:2581-2594.

Poorter, L., Oberbauer, S.F., and D.B. Clark. 1995. Leaf optical properties along a vertical gradient in a toprical rain forest canopy in Costa Rica. American Journal of Botany 82(10): 1257-1263.

Clark, D.A. and D.B. Clark. 1994. Climate-induced variation in canopy tree growth in a Costa Rican tropical rain forest. Journal of Ecology 82:865-872.

Ryan, M.G., R. M.Hubbard, D.A. Clark. & R.L. Sanford, Jr. 1994. Woody tissue respiration for Simarouba amara and Minquartia guianensis, two tropical wet forest trees with different growth habitats. Oecologia 100:213-220.

Clark, D.A. 1994. Plant demography. In L.A. McDade, K.S. Bawa, H.A. Hespenheide, and G.S. Hartshorn (eds). Pp. 90-105 in La Selva: ecology and natural history of a neotropical rain forest. University of Chicago Press.

Clark, D.B., D.A. Clark, and P.M. Rich. 1993. Comparative analysis of microhabitat utilization by saplings of nine tree species in neotropical rain forest. Biotropica 25:397-407.

Oberbauer, S.F., D.B. Clark, D.A. Clark, P. Rich, and G. Vega. 1993. Light environment, gas exchange, and annual growth of three species of Costa Rican rain forest trees. Journal of Tropical Ecology 9:511-523.

Rich, P.M., D.B. Clark, D.A. Clark, and S.F. Oberbauer. 1993. Long-term study of solar radiation regimes in a tropical wet forest using quantum sensors and hemispherical photography. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 65:107-127.

Clark, D.A., and D.B. Clark. 1992. Life history diversity of canopy and emergent trees in a neotropical rain forest. Ecological Monographs 62:315-344.

Clark, D.B., and D.A. Clark, and M.H. Grayum. 1992. Leaf demography of a neotropical rain forest cycad, Zamia skinneri (Zamiaceae). American Journal of Botany 79:28-33.

Clark, D.B., and D.A. Clark. 1991. The impact of physical damage on canopy tree regeneration in tropical rain forest. Journal of Ecology 79:447-457.

Clark, D.B., and D.A. Clark. 1991. Herbivores, herbivory, and plant phenology: patterns and consequences in a tropical rain forest cycad. Pages 209-225 in P.W. Price, T.M. Lewinsohn, G. Wilson Fernandes, and W. Benson (eds.). Plant-animal interactions: evolutionary ecology in tropical and temperate regions. John Wiley.

Clark, D.B. and D.A. Clark. 1990. Distribution and effects on tree growth of lianas and hemiepiphytes in a Costa Rican tropical wet forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 6:321-331.

Stiles, F.G., and D.A. Clark. 1989. Conservation of tropical rain forest birds: a case study from Costa Rica. American Birds (Fall 1989): 420-428.

Clark, D.B. and D.A. Clark. 1989. The role of physical damage in the seedling mortality regime of a neotropical rain forest. Oikos 55:225-230.

Oberbauer, S.F., D.A. Clark, D.B. Clark, and M. Quesada. 1989. Comparative analysis of photosynthetic light environments within the crowns of juvenile rain forest trees. Tree Physiology 5:13-23.

Oberbauer, S.F., D.B. Clark, and D.A. Clark. 1988. Crown light environments of saplings of 2 species of rain forest emergent trees. Oecologia 75:207-212.

Clark, D.B. and D.A. Clark. 1988. Leaf production and the cost of reproduction in the tropical rain forest cycad, Zamia skinneri. Journal of Ecology 76:1153-1163.

Clark, D.A. 1988. Research on tropical plant biology at the La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Evolutionary Trends in Plants 2:75-78.

Clark, D.B., and D.A. Clark. 1987. Population biology and microhabitat distribution of Dipteryx panamensis, a neotropical rain forest emergent tree. Biotropica 19:236-244.

Clark, D.A., R. Dirzo, and N. Fetcher, editors. 1987. Ecología y ecofisiología de plantas en los bosques mesoamericanos. Revista de Biología Tropical 35(Suppl.1):1-234.

Clark, D.A., and D.B. Clark. 1987. Análisis de la regeneración de árboles del dosel en bosque muy húmedo tropical: aspectos teóricos y prácticos. Revista de Biología Tropical 35:41-54.

Clark, D.A., and D.B. Clark. 1987. Temporal and environmental patterns of reproduction in Zamia skinneri, a tropical rain forest cycad. Journal of Ecology 75:135-149.

Clark, D.A. 1986. Regeneration of canopy trees in tropical wet forests. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 1:150-154.

Clark, D.B., and D.A. Clark. 1985. Seedling dynamics of a tropical rain forest tree: impacts of herbivory and apical meristem damage. Ecology 66:1884-1892.

Clark, D.A., and D.B. Clark. 1984. Spacing dynamics of a tropical rain forest tree: evaluation of the Janzen-Connell model. American Naturalist 124:769-788.

Clark, D.A. 1984. Native land mammals. Pp. 225-231 in R. Perry (ed.). Galapagos (Key Environment Series). Pergamon Press.

Clark, D.A. 1982. Foraging behavior of a vertebrate omnivore (Rattus rattus): meal structure, sampling, and diet breadth. Ecology 63:763-772.

Clark, D.A., and D.B. Clark. 1981. Effects of seed dispersal by animals on the regeneration of Bursera graveolens (Burseraceae) on Santa Fe Island, Galapagos. Oecologia 49:73-75.

Clark, D.A. 1981. Foraging patterns of black rats across a desert-montane forest gradient in the Galapagos Islands. Biotropica 13:182-194.

Clark, D.A. 1980. Age- and sex-dependent foraging strategies of a small mammalian omnivore. Journal of Animal Ecology 49:549-563.

Franklin, A.B., D.A. Clark, and D.B. Clark. 1979. Ecology and behavior of the Galapagos Rail. Wilson Bulletin 91:202-221.

Professional Society Participation and Presentations (last 5 years):

Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Contributing Author, IPCC Working Group 1, 2004-2006

Member, Science Advisory Board, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (2003-2006)

Participant, Biodiversity Science & Education Initiative (BSEI), Task Force I
Invited speaker, Nineteenth Annual Gifford Arboretum Lecturer, University of Miami (2007)

Invited speaker, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard U. (2007)

Invited speaker, U.S. Senate briefing on tropical forests and global change, Washington DC (2006)

Invited speaker, OTS Symposium, Washington DC (2006)

Invited speaker, Biogeochemistry and Environmental Biocomplexity seminar series, Cornell University, Ithaca (2006)

Invited speaker, Visiting Distinguished Ecologist lecture series of the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology (GDPE), Colorado State University, Ft. Collins (2006)

Research talk/briefing to U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords and staffers, La Selva, (2006)

Research talk,Organized oral session, Ecological Society of America, Montreal (2005)

Invited speaker, University of Virginia (2005)

Invited speaker, Carnegie Institute Department of Global Ecology, Stanford (2005)

Research talk, LTREB organized oral session, Ecological Society of America meetings, Portland, Oregon (2004)

Research talk, Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation meetings, Miami (2004)

Invited speaker, Arizona State University, Tempe (2004)

Research talk to Central American Workshop on Declining Amphibians and to Hartwick College, La Selva (2004)

Invited speaker, Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas (CIECO), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Morelia, Mexico (2003)

Invited speaker, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City (2003)

Invited speaker, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa (2003)

Invited speaker, Climate Change panel, Society of Women Engineers National Meetings, Birmingham, Alabama (2003)

Member, Luquillo Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Advisory Committee (2002-2003)

Research talk, Ecological Society of America Meetings, Savannah Ga (2003)

Research talk, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Brazil (2003)

Research talk, INPA/Smithsonian graduate field course on Amazonian ecology, Manaus, Brazil (2003)

Invited speaker, Marcia Monroe Conery Memorial Lecture,Tulane University (2003)

Invited speaker, 40th Anniversary Symposium, Organization for Tropical Studies, San José, Costa Rica (2003)

Current Grants and Awards:

NSF BE/CBC (Award No. EAR-0421178): "Complex interactions among water, nutrients and carbon stocks and fluxes across a natural fertility gradient in tropical rain forest. $1.64 million. Co-PI with PI S.F. Oberbauer and several other Co-PI's. 04/01/05 - 3/31/08.

NSF/Geosciences 0223284: "Understanding interannual NEE variability in a tropical rain forest using constrained estimates of carbon exchange." $707,160. Co-PI with S.F. Oberbauer, M. Ryan, D.B. Clark. 1/01/03-12/31/07.

NSF/LTREB (DEB-0640206). Long-term annual performance of tropical rainforest trees: a cross-scale analysis. $419,548. Co-P.I. with P.I. David Clark. 2/15/2007 - 1/31/2011.

Languages

Spanish (fluent speaking, reading, writing)
Portuguese (fluent speaking, reading, moderate writing)
French (reading, some conversation)

Reviewer for:

Science; Nature; PNAS; Global Change Biology; Ecology/Ecological Monographs; Ecological Applications; Ecosystems; J. Tropical Ecology; Forest Ecology & Management; American Naturalist; J. Ecology; Biotropica; Oecologia; Oikos; J. Vegetation Science; National Science Foundation; NASA; National Geographic Society; USDA; NCEAS