Monica G. Turner

Curriculum Vitae 

Profile from PNAS, March 2007

Brief Bio

Dr. Monica G. Turner is the Eugene P. Odum Professor of Ecology and a Vilas Research Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research emphasizes causes and consequences of spatial heterogeneity in ecological systems, focusing primarily on ecosystem and landscape ecology. She has studied fire, vegetation dynamics, nutrient cycling, bark beetle outbreaks, and climate change in Greater Yellowstone for over 25 years, including long-term research on the 1988 Yellowstone fires. She also studies abrupt change in ecological systems, land-water interactions in Wisconsin landscapes, and spatial dynamics of ecosystem services. She has published ~ 250 scientific papers and authored or edited six books. She earned her BS in Biology from Fordham University and her PhD in Ecology from the University of Georgia. Turner is a past-president of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), a recipient of ESA’s Robert H. MacArthur Award, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Research Interests

• Causes and consequences of spatial heterogeneity in ecological systems
• Dynamics of natural disturbances and their effects on ecosystems
• Fire ecology
• Western conifer forests
• Ecological effects of climate and land-use change
• Landscape ecology

Current Projects

See Research page…

Selected Publications

A complete list of Dr. Turner’s publications is available. Most can be downloaded as pdf files.

Books

Turner, M. G. and R. H. Gardner. 2015. Landscape ecology in theory and practice, 2nd ed. Springer, NY.

Gergel, S. E. and M. G. Turner, eds. 2017. Learning landscape ecology, 2nd edi. Springer, NY.

Journal articles

Turner, M. G., K. H. Braziunas, W. D. Hansen, T. J. Hoecker, W. Rammer, Z. Ratajczak, A. L. Westerling, and R. Seidl. 2022. The magnitude, direction and tempo of forest change in Greater Yellowstone in a warmer world with more fire. Ecological Monographs 92(1): e01485.

Turner, M. G., W. J. Calder, G. S. Cumming, T. P. Hughes, A. Jentsch, S. L. LaDeau, T. M. Lenton, B. N Shuman, M. R. Turetsky, Z. Ratajczak, J. W. Williams, A. P. Williams, and S. R. Carpenter. 2020. Climate change, ecosystems, and abrupt change: science priorities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 375:20190105.

Turner, M. G., K. H. Braziunas, W. D. Hansen, and B. J. Harvey. 2019. Short-interval fire erodes the resilience of subalpine lodgepole pine forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116:11319-11328

Turner, M. G., T. G. Whitby, and W. H. Romme. 2019. Feast not famine: Nitrogen pools recover rapidly in 25-yr old postfire lodgepole pine. Ecology 100(3): e02626.

Ratajczak, Z., S. R. Carpenter, A. R. Ives, C. J. Kucharik, T. Ramiadantsoa, M. A. Stegner, J. W. Williams, J. Zhang, and M. G. Turner. 2018. Abrupt change in ecological systems: inference and diagnosis. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 33:513-526.

Rose, K. C., S. R. Greb, M. Diebel, and M. G. Turner. 2017. Annual precipitation as a regulator of spatial and temporal drivers of lake water clarity. Ecological Applications 27:632-643.

Rose, K. C., R. A. Graves, W. D. Hansen, B. J. Harvey, J. Qiu, S. A. Wood, C. Ziter, and M. G. Turner. 2017. Historical foundations and future directions in macrosystems ecology. Ecology Letters 20:147-157.

Johnstone, J. F., C. D. Allen, J. F. Franklin, L. E. Frelich, B. J. Harvey, P. E. Higuera, M. C. Mack, R. K. Meentemeyer, M. R. Metz, G. L. W. Perry, T. Schoennagel, and M. G. Turner. 2016. Changing disturbance regimes, climate warming and forest resilience. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 14:369-378.

Romme, W. H., T. G. Whitby, D. B. Tinker, and M. G. Turner. 2016. Deterministic and stochastic processes lead to divergence in plant communities during the first 25 years after the 1988 Yellowstone Fires. Ecological Monographs 86:327-351.

Seidl, R., D. C. Donato, K. A Raffa, and M. G. Turner. 2016. Spatial variability in tree regeneration after wildfire delays and dampens future bark beetle outbreaks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113:13075-13080.

Turner, M. G., T. G. Whitby, D. B. Tinker, and W. H. Romme. 2016. Twenty-four years after the Yellowstone Fires: Are postfire lodgepole pine stands converging in structure and function? Ecology 97:1260-1273.

Turner, M. G., D. C. Donato, W. D. Hansen, B. J. Harvey, W. H. Romme, and A. L. Westerling. 2016. Climate change and novel disturbance regimes in national park landscapes. Pages 77-101 In: S. R. Beissinger, D. D. Ackerly, H. Doremus, and G. Machlis, editors. Science, conservation, and national parks. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL

Westerling, A. L., M. G. Turner, E. A. H. Smithwick, W. H. Romme and M. G. Ryan. 2011. Continued warming could transform Greater Yellowstone fire regimes by mid-21st century. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108:13165-13170.

Romme, W. H., M. S. Boyce, R. E. Gresswell, E. H. Merrill, G. W. Minshall, C. Whitlock and M. G. Turner. 2011. Twenty years after the 1988 Yellowstone fires: lessons about disturbance and ecosystems. Ecosystems 14:1196-1215.

Turner, M. G. 2010. Disturbance and landscape dynamics in a changing world. Ecology 91:2833-2849.

Turner, M. G., E. A. H. Smithwick, D. B. Tinker and W. H. Romme. 2009. Variation in foliar nitrogen and aboveground net primary production in young postfire lodgepole pine. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 39:1024-1035.

Turner, M. G., E. A. H. Smithwick, K. L. Metzger, D. B. Tinker and W. H. Romme. 2007. Inorganic nitrogen availability following severe stand-replacing fire in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:4782-4789.

Turner, M. G. 2005. Landscape ecology in North America: past, present and future. Ecology 86:1967-1974.

Turner, M. G. 2005. Landscape ecology: what is the state of the science? Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 36:319-344.

Contact Info

432 Birge Hall
430 Lincoln Drive
Madison, WI 53706

Tel (608) 262-2592
Fax (608) 265-6320

Email: turnermg @ wisc.edu