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Education 

2001, 1995 Professor of Botany

1983 Ph.D. Indiana University, Bloomington
1978 M.S. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
1977 B.A. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Courses

Quaternary Ecology & Biogeography, General Biology, Plants and Civilization, Plant Geography, Ecology Seminar

Research Emphasis

Dr. Jackson's research focuses on ecological and evolutionary responses to environmental change at timescales ranging from decades to millennia. He is particularly interested in linking dynamics across timescales -integrating ecological and evolutionary processes observed in "real time" with patterns inferred from the fossil records of the past 25,000 years, and examining patterns in fossil records from "deep time" (primarily Cenozoic) in the light of dynamics we see in the late Quaternary. Ongoing projects include: (1) Biogeography, ecology, genetics, and systematics of North American conifers (particularly spruces (Picea), junipers (Juniperus), and pines (Pinus)). These studies integrate paleoecological and ecological approaches, and include collaborations with geneticists and systematists. His team is taking advantage of well-documented post-glacial migrations of several species in eastern and western North America to address a broad array of questions (e.g., genetic consequences of "great-leap" dispersal, patterns and rates of population spread and extirpation, history and dynamics of interspecies hybrid zones). (2) Comparison of dynamics across timescales. He is collaborating with "deep-time" paleobiologists in studies of early Cenozoic (Paleocene and Eocene) macrofloral and pollen sequences from Wyoming. These sequences (Hanna Basin and Green River Formation) provide unusually high temporal resolution, approaching that typical of Quaternary sequences. They will use these records to assess whether the environmental variability and community plasticity typical of the Quaternary is characteristic of the early Cenozoic.

Representative Publications

• Minckley, T.A. & S.T. Jackson.  2007.  Ecological stability in a changing world?  Reassessment of the paleoenvironmental history of Cuatro Ciénegas, México.  Journal of Biogeography (in press).

• Richardson, D.M., P.W. Rundel, S.T. Jackson, R.O. Teskey, J. Aronson, A. Bytnerowicz, M.J. Wingfield & Ş. Procheş.  2007.  Human impacts in pine forests – past, present, and future.  Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 38:275-297.

• Suding, K.N., S. Lavorel, F.S. Chapin III, H. Cornelissen, S. Díaz, E. Garnier, D. Goldberg, D.U. Hooper, S.T. Jackson & M.-L. Lavas.  Scaling environmental change from traits to communities to ecosystems: the challenge of complexity at intermediate scales.  Global Change Biology (in press). 

• Williams, J.W. & S.T. Jackson.  2007.  Novel climates, no-analog communities, and ecological surprises: past and future.  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (in press).

• Williams, J.W., S.T. Jackson, & J.E. Kutzbach.  2007.  Projected distributions of novel and disappearing climates by 2100 AD.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:5738-5742.

• Booth, R.K., M. Notaro, S.T. Jackson, & J.E. Kutzbach.  2006.  Widespread drought episodes in the western Great Lakes region during the past 2000 years: geographic extent and potential mechanisms.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters 242:415-427.

• Gray, S.T., J.L. Betancourt, S.T. Jackson, & R.G. Eddy.  2006.  Role of multidecadal climatic variability in a range extension of pinyon pine.  Ecology 87:1124-1130.

• Jackson, S.T.  2006.  Vegetation, environment, and time: the origination and termination of ecosystems.  Journal of Vegetation Science 17:549-557.

• Nichols, J.E., R.K. Booth, S.T. Jackson, E.G. Pendall & Y. Huang.  2006. Paleohydrologic reconstruction based on n-alkane distributions in ombrotrophic peat.  Organic Geochemistry 37:1505-1513.

• Jackson, S.T. & R.K. Booth.  2006.  Using plant macrofossils to refine and validate pollen studies.  Encyclopaedia of Quaternary Sciences (S.A. Elias, editor-in-chief).  Elsevier Scientific Publishing, Inc.
• Norris, J., S.T. Jackson & J.L. Betancourt.  2006.  Classification tree and minimum-volume ellipsoid analyses of the distribution of ponderosa pine in the western USA.  Journal of Biogeography 33:342-360
• National Research Council, Committee on the Geological Record of Biosphere Dynamics (K.W. Flessa (Chair), S.T. Jackson (Vice-Chair). J.D. Aber, M.A. Arthur, P.R. Crane, D.H. Erwin, R.W. Graham, J.C.B. Jackson, S.M. Kidwell, C.G. Maples, C.H. Peterson, O. J. Reichman). 2005. The Geologic Record of Ecological Dynamics: Understanding the Biotic Consequences of Global Change. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
• Booth, R.K., S.T. Jackson, S.L. Forman, J.E. Kutzbach, E.A. Bettis III, J. Kreig, & D.K. Wright. 2005. A severe centennial-scale drought in mid-continental North America 4200 years ago and apparent global linkages. The Holocene 15:321-328.
• Jackson, S.T., J.L. Betancourt, M.E. Lyford, S.T. Gray & K.A. Ryland. 2005 a 40,000-year woodrat-midden record of vegetational and biogeographic dynamics in northeastern Utah. Journal of Biogeography 32:1085-1106.
• Gray, S.T., C.L. Fastie, S.T. Jackson, and J.L. Betancourt. 2004. Tree-ring based reconstructions of precipitation in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming since 1260 A.D. Journal of Climate 17:3855-3865.
• Gray, S.T.,  S.T. Jackson, and J.L. Betancourt. 2004. Tree-ring based reconstructions of interannual to decadal-scale precipitation variability for northeastern Utah since 1226 A.D. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 40:947-960.
• Booth, R.K., S.T. Jackson, & C.E.D. Gray. 2004. Paleoecology and high-resolution paleohydrology of kettle-hole peatland in Upper Michigan. Quaternary Research  61:1-13.
• Lyford, M.E., S.T. Jackson, S.T. Gray & R.J. Eddy. 2004. Validating the use of woodrat (Neotoma) middens for documenting natural invasions. Journal of Biogeography 31:333-342.
• Jackson, S.T. 2004. Late Quaternary biogeography: linking biotic responses to environmental variability across timescales. In M. Lomolino and L. Heaney, editors. Frontiers of Biogeography. Sinauer Associates.
• Jackson, S.T. and J.W. Williams. 2004. Modern analogs in Quaternary paleocology: here today, gone yesterday, gone tomorrow? Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 32:495-537.
• Booth, R.K. & S.T. Jackson. 2003. A high-resolution record of Late Holocene moisture variability from a Michigan raised bog. The Holocene 13:865-878.
• Booth, R.K., F.J. Rich, & S.T. Jackson. 2003. Paleoecology of mid-Wisconsinan peat clasts from Skidaway Island, Georgia. PALAIOS 18:63-68.
• Gray, S.T., J.L. Betancourt, C. Fastie, & S.T. Jackson. 2003 Patterns and sources of multidecadal oscillations in drought-sensitive tree-ring records from the central and southern Rocky Mountains. Geophysical Research Letters Vol. 30, No. 6, 1316, doi:10.1029/2002GL016154.
• Lyford, M.E., S.T. Jackson, J.L. Betancourt, & S.T. Gray. 2003. Influence of landscape structure and climate variability on a late Holocene plant migration. Ecological Monographs 73:567-583.
• Marland, G., R.A. Pielke, Sr., M. Apps, R. Avissar, R.A. Betts, K.J. Davis, P. Frumhoff, S.T. Jackson, L. Joyce, P. Kauppi, K.G. MacDicken, R. Neilson, J.O. Niles, D.S. Niyogi, R.J. Norby, N. Pena, N. Sampson, and Y. Xue. 2003. The climatic implications of land surface change and carbon management, and the implications for climate-change mitigation policy. Climate Policy 3:149-157.
• Williams, J.W., and S.T. Jasckson. 2003. Palynological and AVHRR observation in eastern North America: complementary sensors of the vegetation. The Holocene 13:485-497.
• Booth, R.K. and S.T. Jackson. 2002. Paleoecology of a Northern Michigan Lake and the Relationship among Climate, Vegetation, and Great Lakes Water Levels. Quaternary Research 57, 120-130.
• Jackson, S.T. and R.K. Booth.  2002.  The role of late Holocene climate variability in the expansion of yellow birch in the western Great Lakes region.  Diversity and Distributions 8:275-284.
• Jackson, S.T., M.E. Lyford, and J.L. Betancourt.  2002.  A 4000-year record of woodland vegetation from Wind River Canyon, central Wyoming.  Western North American Naturalist 62:405-413.
• Lyford, M.E., J.L. Betancourt, and S.T. Jackson.  2002.  Holocene vegetation and climate history of the northern Bighorn Basin, southern Montana.  Quaternary Research 58:171-181.
• Jackson, S.T.  2001.  Integrating ecological dynamics across timescales: real-time, Q-time, and deep-time.  PALAIOS 16:1-2.
• Jackson, S.T.  2000.  Ecosystem reorganization into the icehouse: a Quaternary perspective on Late Cenozoic terrestrial paleoecology.  Pages 287-308 in Phanerozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems (R.A. Gastaldo & W.A. DiMichele, editors).  Paleontological Society Papers, Vol. 6.
• Jackson, S.T. and J.T. Overpeck.  2000.  Responses of plant populations and communities to  environmental changes of the Late Quaternary.  Paleobiology 26 (Supplement):194-220.
• Jackson, S.T., R.S. Webb, K.H. Anderson, J.T. Overpeck, T. Webb III, J.W. Williams, & B.C.S. Hansen.  2000.  Vegetation and environment in eastern North America during the last glacial maximum.  Quaternary Science Reviews 19:489-508.
• Jackson, S.T., E.C. Grimm, & R.S. Thompson.  2000.  Database resources in Quaternary paleobotany.  SIDA Botanical Miscellany 18:113-120.
• Jackson, S.T., & C. Weng.  1999.  Late Quaternary extinction of a tree species in eastern North America.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96:13847-13852.
• Jackson, S.T.  1999.  Techniques for analysing unconsolidated lake sediments.  Pages 274-278 in  Fossil Plants and Spores:  Modern Techniques (T. Jones & N. Rowe, editors).  Geological Society of London.
• Jackson, S.T., & M.E. Lyford.  1999.  Pollen dispersal models in Quaternary plant ecology: assumptions, parameters, and prescriptions.  Botanical Review 65:39-75.
• Weng, C., & S.T. Jackson.  1999.  Late-glacial and Holocene vegetation and climate history of the Kaibab Plateau, northern Arizona.  Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 153:179-201.
• Clark, J.S., C.L. Fastie, G. Hurtt, S.T, Jackson, W.C. Johnson, G.A. King, M. Lewis, J. Lynch, S. Pacala, I.C. Prentice, G. Schupp, T. Webb III, & P. Wyckoff. 1998.  Dispersal theory offers solutions to Reid's paradox of rapid plant migration.  BioScience 48:13-24.
• Jackson, S.T., and J.B. Kearsley.  1998.  Quantitative representation of local forest composition in forest-floor pollen assemblages.  Journal of Ecology 86:474-490.
• Jackson, S.T.  1997.  Documenting natural and human-caused plant invasions using paleoecological methods.  Pages 37-55 in Assessment and Management of Plant Invasions (J.O. Luken & J.W. Thieret, editors).  Springer-Verlag.
• Jackson, S.T., J.T. Overpeck, T. Webb III, S.E. Keattch, and K.H. Anderson.  1997.  Mapped plant macrofossil and pollen records of Late Quaternary vegetation change in eastern North America.  Quaternary Science Reviews 16:1-70.
• Jackson, S.T. & D.K. Singer.  1997.  Climate change and the development of Coastal Plain disjunctions in the central Great Lakes region.  Rhodora 99:101-117.
• Kearsley, J.B., and S.T. Jackson.  1997.  History of a Pinus strobus-dominated stand in northern New York.  Journal of Vegetation Science 8:425-436.
• Singer, D.K., S.T. Jackson, B.J. Madsen, and D.A. Wilcox.  1996.  Differentiating climatic and successional influences on long-term development of a marsh.  Ecology 77:1765-1778.
• Jackson, S.T., T. Webb III, I.C. Prentice, and J.E. Hansen.  1995.  Exploration and calibration of pollen/vegetation relationships: a PC program for the extended R-value models.  Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 84:365-374.
• Jackson, S.T., and A. Wong.  1994.  Using forest patchiness to determine pollen source areas of closed-canopy pollen assemblages.  Journal of Ecology 82:89-99.
• Jackson, S.T., and C.R. Givens.  1994.  Late Wisconsinan vegetation and environment of the Tunica Hills region, Louisiana/Mississippi.  Quaternary Research 41:316-325.
• Jackson, S.T.  1994.  Pollen and spores in Quaternary lake sediments as sensors of vegetation composition:  theoretical models and empirical evidence.  Pages 253-286 in Sedimentation of Organic Particles (A. Traverse, editor).  Cambridge University Press.

Other Activities:

Board of Editors, Journal of Vegetation Science, 2006-2009

Program Chair, American Quaternary Association, 20th Biennial Meeting, 2006

Vice-Chair, National Research Council Committee on Geologic Records of Biosphere Dynamics, 2004.

Review Panel, National Science Foundation, Earth System History Program. 2003, 2004

Board of Editors, Ecology and Ecological Monographs, 1999-2008

Editorial Board, Diversity and Distributions, 2002-2007

Chair, William S. Cooper Award Committee, Ecological Society of America, 2003-2006

Executive Council, American Quaternary Association, 2002-2006

Climate Change Subcommittee, National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Design Consortium (2005)