Rice Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Jim Coleman Research

Jim Coleman is Vice Provost for Research and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Rice University where he is charged with facilitating the growth of research at Rice, and he is responsible for oversight of Rice’s $100,000,000 research enterprise. One important role for Jim is to facilitate successful interdisciplinary and multi-institutional programs in the new 500,000 sq. ft. Collaborative Research Center (CRC).

The most recent focus of Coleman's research interests has been the ecological effects of environmental change, but his role as vice provost keep him too busy to run a lab here.

Prior to joining Rice, Jim was the Vice Chancellor for Research and Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri – Columbia (MU) and he was Vice President for Research and Business Development at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) - an internationally renowned environmental science research institute with annual research expenditures of approximately $50,000,000 and campuses in both Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada. Jim was an Assistant Professor, and then Associate Professor, of Biology at Syracuse University and he served as a Program Officer for Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology at the National Science Foundation (NSF) where he also ran programs for Dissertation Improvement Awards and a joint agency program in Terrestrial Ecology and Global Change. While at Syracuse University, Jim received an NSF Young Investigator Award, and was recognized for outstanding graduate teaching with Syracuse University’s William Wasserstrom Prize. The British journal The Scientist reported in 1996 that a paper co-authored by Jim in 1993 (Oecologia.93: 195-200) was the number six most cited paper in the field of global change biology and he has been co-author on two significant additional publications in the journal Nature on global change biology, including the September 18, 2008 cover article.

Jim has also been heavily involved in building research infrastructure at the national, statewide and university level through role as a chief research officer, and through his role in building research capacity as Nevada’s statewide EPSCoR director, as a member of the Board of the Coalition of EPSCoR states, and his current roles as Commissioner, University of Rhode Island Commission for Research and Innovation; Chair, State of Arkansas National Science Foundation EPSCoR external advisory committee; Chair, State of Nevada National Science Foundation EPSCoR external advisory board. He also serves as a Board member, National Space Biomedical Research Institute; Board Member, Southern Universities Research Association; and has served in the past in other capacities including being a Board Member, Missouri Innovation Center; President of the Physiological Ecology Section of the Ecological Society of America; Associate Editor and Editorial Board Member for the journals Ecology and Ecological Monograph; Associate Editor for The International Journal of Plant Sciences.

Jim has a B.S. (Forestry) from the University of Maine and a M.S., M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale University. Dr. Coleman also held positions as a postdoctoral researcher in biology at Stanford University and Harvard University. He has been Principal or co-Principal investigator on approximately $40,000,000 in competitive grants and cooperative agreements and as authored or co-authored over 75 peer reviewed publications, citations of some of the more significant ones are below.

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

Global Change Biology

Arnone, J.A. III, P.S.J. Verburg, D.W. Johnson, J.D. Larsen, R.L. Jasoni, A.J. Lucchesi, C.M. Batts, C. von Nagy, W.G. Coulombe, D.E. Schorran, P.E. Buck, B.H. Braswell, J.S. Coleman, R.A. Sherry, L.L. Wallace, Y. Luo and D.S. Schimel. 2008. Prolonged suppression of ecosystem carbon dioxide uptake after an anomalously warm year. Nature 455: 383-386
Barua, D., S.A. Heckathorn, J.S. Coleman. 2008. Variation in heat-shock proteins and photosynthetic thermotolerance among natural populations of Chenopodium album L. from contrasting thermal environments: implications for plant responses to global warming. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology: 50: 1440-1451
Nowak, R.S., S.F. Zitzer, D. Babcock, V. Smith-Longozo, T.N. Charlet, J.S. Coleman, J.R. Seemann and S.D. Smith. 2004. Elevated atmospheric CO2 does not conserve soil moisture in the Mojave Desert. Ecology 85: 93-99.
Ericksen, J.A., M.S. Gustin, D.S. Schorran, D.W. Johnson, S.E. Lindberg and J.S. Coleman. 2003. Accumulation of atmospheric mercury by forest foliage. Atmospheric Environment 37: 1613-1622.
Verburg, P.S.J., J.A. Arnone III, D. Obrist, D.W. Johnson, D. Lerourx-Swarthout, D.E. Schorran, Y. Luo, R.D. Evans, and J.S. Coleman. 2004. Net ecosystem carbon exchange in two experimental grassland ecosystems. Global Change Biology 10: 498-508.
Smith, S.D., T.E. Huxman, S. F. Zitzer, T.N. Charlet, D.C. Housman, J. S. Coleman, L. K. Fenstermaker, J.R. Seemann, and R.S. Nowak. 2000 Elevated CO2 increases productivity and invasive species success in an arid ecosystem. Nature 408: 79-82.
Cheng, W., D. Sims, Y. Luo, D. Johnson, T. Ball, and J.S. Coleman. 2000. Demonstration of complete carbon budgeting in plant-soil mesocosms under elevated CO2: Locally missing carbon? Global Change Biology 6: 99-110.

Plant Ontogeny and Response to Environmental Perturbation

Bernacchi, C.J., J.N. Thompson, J.S. Coleman, K.D.M. McConnaughay. 2007. Allometric Analysis Reveals Relatively Little Variation in Nitrogen vs. Biomass Accrual in Four Plant Species Exposed to Varying Light, Nutrients, Water, and CO2. Plant, Cell and Environment 30: 1216:1222.
McConnaughay, K.D.M. and J.S. Coleman. 1999. Biomass allocation in plants: ontogeny or optimality? A test along three resource gradients. Ecology 80: 2581-2593.
Coleman, J.S., K.D. M. McConnaughay and D.D. Ackerly. 1994. Interpreting phenotypic variation in plants. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 9: 187-191.

Plant Ontogeny and Plant-Herbivore Interactions

Gould, G.G., C.G. Jones, P. Rifleman, A. Perez, and J.S. Coleman. 2007. Variation in Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides Bartr.) phloem sap content and toughness due to leaf development may affect feeding site Selection behavior of the aphid, Chaitophorous populicola Thomas (Homoptera: Aphididae). Environmental Entomology 35: 1212:1225.
Wait, D.A., J.S. Coleman and C.G. Jones. 2002. Chrysomela scripta, Plagiodera versicolora (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidia), and Trichoplusia ni (Lepodoptera: Noctuidae) track specific leaf developmental stages. Environmental Entomology 31: 836-843.
Wait, D.A., C.G. Jones, J.S. Coleman and M. Schaedle. 1998. Insect responses to fertilization of host plants may be regulated by changes in leaf development. Oikos: 82: 502-514.
Coleman, J.S. and A.S. Leonard. 1995. Why it matters where on a leaf a folivore feeds. Oecologia 101: 324-328.
Jones, C.G., R.F. Hopper, J.S. Coleman, and V.A. Krischik. 1993. Plant vasculature controls the distribution of systemically induced defense against a herbivore. Oecologia 93: 452-456.

Function and Ecological Significance of Plant Heat Shock Proteins

Hamilton, E.W. III and J.S. Coleman. 2001. Heat-shock proteins are induced in unstressed leaves of Nicotiana attenuata when distant leaves are stressed. American Journal of Botany 88: 950-955.
Heckathorn, S.A., C.A. Downs, T.D. Sharkey and J.S. Coleman. 1998. A small chloroplast heat-shock protein protects photosystem II during heat stress. Plant Physiology 116: 439-444.
Downs, C., S.A. Heckathorn, J.S. Coleman and J. Bryan. 1998. The methionine-rich low-molecular-weight chloroplast heat shock protein: evolutionary conservation and accumulation in relation to thermotolerance. American Journal of Botany 85: 175-183.
Heckathorn, S.A., G.J. Polgreen, J.S. Coleman and R.L. Hallberg. 1996. Nitrogen availability alters the accumulation of stress-induced proteins in plants. Oecologia 105: 413-418.
Coleman, J.S., S.A. Heckathorn and R.L. Hallberg. 1995. Heat shock proteins and thermotolerance: Linking ecological and molecular perspectives. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 10: 305-306.

Environmental Influences on Plant-Herbivore Interactions

Heckathorn, S.A., S.J. McNaughton and J.S. Coleman. 1998. C4 photosynthesis and herbivory. In: R. Sage and R. Monson (eds). The biology of C4 photosynthesis. Academic Press. San Diego. pages 285-312.
Hartvigsen, G., D.A. Wait, and J.S. Coleman. 1995. Tri-trophic interactions as influenced by resource availability: Predator effects on plant performance depend on resource level. Oikos 74: 463-468.
Coleman, J.S., C.G. Jones, and V.A. Krischik. 1992. Phytocentric and exploiter perspectives of phytopathology. Advances in Plant Pathology 8: 149-195.
Coleman, J.S. and C.G. Jones. 1991. A phytocentric perspective of phytochemical induction by herbivores. In: D. Tallamy and M. Raupp (eds.). Phytochemical Induction by Herbivores. J. Wiley and Sons. pp. 3-45.
Jones, C.G. and J.S. Coleman. 1991. Plant stress and insect herbivory: Toward an integrated perspective. In: H.A. Mooney, W.E. Winner and E.J. Pell (eds.) Integrated Responses of Plants to Environmental Stress. Academic Press, NY. pp. 249-282.

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