Department of Botany, 3165
1000 E. University Ave.
 University of Wyoming
Laramie, WY
82071
 
Ph. 1-307-766-2380
FAX: 1-307-766-2851 

 

Education

B.A., Knox College, 1959
M.S., Rutgers,1962
Ph.D., Rutgers, 1964
Professor of Botany, 1983
 

Courses

General Biology, Field Ecology, Ecosystem Analysis, Biogeochemistry, Special Topics in Ecology.

Research Emphasis

My research is primarily at the ecosystem level--particularly biogeochemical processes with a strong temporal-spatial orientation. My long-term goal is to better understand the controls of ecological processes across a wide range of scales, from meters to kilometers to 1000s of kilometers. Typically, my colleagues and I examine these processes in the context of temporal variation as resulting from disturbance events followed by succession, and in terms of spatial variation occurring across landscapes or regions. GIS and remote sensing tools are involved in virtually all projects in his lab.

While research questions are primarily at the ecosystem level, many activities could also be described as "landscape ecology." We are involved in producing ecologically meaningful maps of local landscapes and the state as a whole, and in modeling processes such as alien plant invasions, pollen transport and redistribution of snow by wind using GIS and statistical tools.  The propagation of cause and effect across landscapes through transport mechanisms is a principal focal area featured in the book by Ken Driese and myself listed below.

Awards

• H.J. Oosting Memorial Lecturer, Duke University, 1981

• Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin Fellow, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany, 1989-90

• University of Wyoming Presidential Award for Scholarly Work, 1993

• University of Wyoming J.E. Warren Professorship of Energy and the  Environment, 1996

• National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis Fellow, 2000

• Member in ISI Highly Cited Researcher Database

Recent Publications

• Reiners, W.A. and K.L. Driese. 2004. Transport processes in nature. Propagation of ecological influences through environmental space.  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 302 p.

• Reiners, W.A. 2005. Reciprocal cause and effect between environmental heterogeneity and transport processes.  pp. 67-89, In Lovett, G. M., C.G. Jones, M.G. Turner and K.C. Weathers. Ecosystem function in heterogeneous landscapes. Springer-Verlag, NY.

• Hiemstra, C.A., G.E. Liston and W.A. Reiners. 2006. Observing, modeling and validating model snow redistribution by wind in a Wyoming upper treeline landscape. Ecological Modelling 197:35-51.

• Knight, D.H. and W.A. Reiners.2000. Natural patterns in Central Rocky Mountain landscapes and their relevance to forest management, pp. 15-30 In R.L. Knight, F.W. Smith, S.W.Buskirk, W.H. Romme and W.L. Baker (eds.) Forest fragmentation in the Southern Rocky Mountains. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.

• Liu, S. W.A. Reiners, M. Keller and D.S. Schimel. 2000. Simulation of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide emissions from tropical primary forests in the Costa Rican Atlantic Zone. Environmental Modelling & Software 15(8):727-743.

• Branting, L.K., W. A. Reiners and H. Yang. 2000. Induction of Landtype Association rules from GIS data. BESAI2000—Workshop on (W7) Binding Environmental Sciences and Artificial Intelligence. In conjunction with the 14th Biennial European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI2000). Aug. 20-25, Berlin, Germany, EU. Proceedings of the ESAI2000-Workshop on Binding Environmental Sciences and Artificial Intelligence.

• Germino, Matthew J., W.A. Reiners, B.J. Blasko, D.M. McLeod, and C.T. Bastian. 2001. Estimating Visual Properties of Rocky Mountain Landscapes using GIS. Urban and Landscape Management 53:71-83

• Driese, K.L., W.A. Reiners and R.C. Thurston. 2001. Rule-based integration of remotely sensed data and GIS for land cover mapping in NE Costa Rica. Geocarto International 16(1):35-44.

• Fertig, Walter F. and W. A. Reiners. 2001. Predicting presence/absence of plant species for range mapping: a case study from Wyoming. In Scott, J.M., P.J. Heglund, M. Morrison, M. Raphael, J. Haufler and B. Hall (editors). Predicting species occurrences: issues of scale and accuracy. Island Press, Covello, CA. (in press).

• Reiners, W.A. and K.L. Driese. 2001. The propagation of ecological influences across heterogeneous environmental space. BioScience. Nov. 2001.

• Reiners, W.A. and K.L. Driese. 2001. The propagation of ecological influences across heterogeneous environmental space. BioScience 51(11):939-950.

• Likens, G.E., C.T. Driscoll, D.C. Busco, M.J. Mitchell, G.M. Lovett, S.W. Bailey, T.G. Siccama, W. A. Reiners, C. Alewell. The biogeochemistry of sulfur at Hubbard Brook. Biogeochemistry, in press 21 May 2001.

• Hiemstra, C.A., G.E. Liston, and W.A. Reiners. 2002. Snow redistribution by wind and interactions with vegetation at upper treeline in the Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming. In Press, Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research.

• Kelly, Robert D., E. Raymond Hunt, Jr., William A. Reiners, William K. Smith, Jeffrey M. Welker. 2002. Relationships between daytime carbon dioxide flux and absorbed photosynthetically active radiation for four different mountain/plains ecosystems. Undergoing revision for Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres).

• Fertig, Walter F. and W. A. Reiners.  2002.  Predicting presence/absence of plant species for range mapping: a case study from Wyoming, pp. 483-489. In Scott, J.M., P.J. Heglund, M. Morrison, M. Raphael, J. Haufler and B. Hall (editors). Predicting species occurrences: issues of scale and accuracy.  Island Press, Covello, CA. 

• Bastian, C., D. McLeod, M. Germino, W. Reiners and B. Blasko. 2002. Environmental amenities and agricultural land values: a hedonic model using geographic information systems data. Ecological Economics 40:337-349.

• Robert D. Kelly, E. Raymond Hunt, Jr., William A. Reiners, William K. Smith, Jeffrey M. Welker. 2002. Relationships between daytime carbon dioxide uptake and absorbed photosynthetically active radiation for three different mountain/plains ecosystems.  Journal of Geophysical Research 107(D14): 19.1-19.8. As PDF: DOI 10.1029/2001JD001181.

• Hiemstra, C.A., G.E. Liston, and W.A. Reiners. 2002.  Snow redistribution by wind and interactions with vegetation at upper treeline in the Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming.  Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 34(3):262-273.

• Hunt E.R. Jr., J.T. Fahnstock, R.D. Kelly, J.M. Welker, W.A. Reiners and W.K. Smith.  2002. Carbon sequestration from remotely-sensed NDVI and net ecosystem exchange, pp. 161-171. In R.W. Muttiah (ed). From laboratory spectroscopy to remotely sensed spectra of terrestrial ecosystems.  Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.

• W. A. Reiners, S. Liu, K.G. Gerow, M. Keller and D.S. Schimel 2002. Historical and future land use effects on N2O and NO emissions using an ensemble modeling approach: Costa Rica’s Caribbean Lowlands as an example.  Global Biogeochemical Cycles 16(4):223-240.

• Likens, G.E., C.T. Driscoll, D.C. Busco, M.J. Mitchell, G.M. Lovett, S.W. Bailey, T.G. Siccama, W. A. Reiners, C. Alewell.  2002. The biogeochemistry of sulfur at Hubbard Brook.  Biogeochemistry 60:235-316.

• Ogle, S.M., W.A. Reiners, and K.G. Gerow. 2002.  Impacts of exotic annual bromes grasses on ecosystem properties of northern mixed grass prairie.  American Midland Naturalist 149:46-58.

• Bastian, C. T., D. M. McLeod, M. J. Germino, W. A. Reiners and B. J. Blasko.  2002. Using GIS to measure environmental and visual amenities when valuing agricultural Lands.”  Journal of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.  2002: 43-52.

• William K. Smith, Robert D. Kelly, E. Raymond Hunt, Jr., William A. Reiners,  Jeffrey M. Welker. 2003. Leaf-to-aircraft measurements of net CO2 exchange in a sagebrush steppe ecosystem. Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres). 108 (D3), 4122, DOI:10.1029/2002JD002512.

• McLeod, D., C. Bastian, and W. Reiners. 2003 Hedonic models incorporating geographic information systems data: Agricultural land valuation and policy implications. In J. Gustanski and E. Brabec (editors)  Advancing the Land Conservation Debate in the New Millennium: Economics, Policy, and Technology. Island Press: Covelo, CA.  (In press [Aug. 2003]).

• Reiners, W.A. 2003. Natural ecosystems I.  The Rocky Mountains, pp. 145-184. Chap. 7. In F.H. Wagner (ed.) Rocky Mountain/Great Basin Regional Climate-Change Assessment.  Report for the U.S. global Change research Program. Utah State University, Logan UT IV + 240 pp.

•  Reiners, W.A. and K.L. Driese. 2003. Transport of energy, information and material through the biosphere. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 28: 107-135.

• Hunt, E.R., Jr., R.D. Kelly, W.K. Smith, J.T. Fahnstock and W.A. Reiners. 2003. Estimation of carbon sequestration by combining remote sensing and net ecosystem exchange data for northern mixed-grass prairie and sagebrush-steppe ecosystems. Environmental Management. (in press).

• Reiners, W.A. 2003. Reciprocal cause and effect between environmental heterogeneity and transport processes. In Lovett, G. M., C.G. Jones, M.G. Turner and K.C. Weathers. Ecosystem function in heterogeneous landscapes. (Submitted July 2003).

• Driese, K.L., W.A. Reiners, G.M. Lovett and S.M. Simkin. 2003. A vegetation map for the Catskill Park, NY, derived from multitemporal Landsat imagery and GIS data. Northeast Naturalist. (Submitted 1 August 2003).