Thomas R. Wentworth
Professor
Plant
Community Ecology
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Research
Interests:
Background
I received an A.B. degree in Biological Sciences from Dartmouth
College (1970) and a Ph.D. in Plant Ecology from Cornell
University (1976). I joined the Department of Plant Biologyat
North Carolina State University in 1976. I have chaired
and served as a member of the Odum Award Committee of
the Southeastern Chapter of the Ecological Society of
America. I have also served as a member of the Board of
Directors for the Organization for Tropical Studies and
currently serve on the Board of Directors and the Board
of Scientific Advisors for Highlands Biological Station.
I have been the Business Manager of the North American
Section of the International Association for Vegetation
Science since 1991.
Research
My principal research interest is the description, classification,
and study of environmental relationships of natural
vegetation. This interest has taken many directions,
including studies of distributional consequences of
plant biochemical differences, plant water relations,
and plant mineral nutrition. Much of my work involves
use of mathematical/statistical approaches to analysis
of community data (numerical classification and gradient
analysis). My dissertation research involved a comparison
of vegetation patterns on limestone and more acidic
rocks in the mountains of southeastern Arizona, and
I continue to have an interest in contrasts in vegetation
found on varied substrates within the same climatic
region. Most of my current research is focused on
characterization of vegetation in the mountain and
coastal plain regions of North Carolina. I am a co-founder
and principal investigator of the North Carolina Vegetation
Survey,which has as its goal the thorough characterization
of the natural vegetation of North Carolina,using
quantitative data on vegetation and environment from
a statewide network of permanent plots. I also have
a strong interest in applied research, and collaborate
frequently with faculty in other departments, such
as Forestry and Horticulture. Recent applied projects
have included development of criteria for the use
of vegetation in the designation of wetlands, studies
of the effects of commercial logging and site preparation practices
on regrowth of natural vegetation, and an analysis
of the impacts of pinestraw raking on natural vegetation
in longleaf pine forests.
Teaching
My principal teaching activities include Introductory Ecology
(undergraduate level) and Plant Community Ecology (graduate
level). I have also been involved in the Undergraduate Honors
Program in our College, have contributed to an interdepartmental
Agroforestry course, and haveparticipated in a number of
special topics and seminar courses. I was the recipient
of the NCSU Outstanding Teaching Award in 1992.
Selected
Publications:
- Lodge, D.J., and T.R.
Wentworth. 1990. Negative associations among VA- mycorrhizal
fungi and some ectomycorrhizal fungi inhabiting the
same root system. Oikos 57:347-356.
- Allen, H.L., L.A. Morris,
and T.R. Wentworth. 1991. Productivity comparisons between
successive loblolly pine rotations in the North Carolina
Piedmont. Pages 125-136 in W.J. Dyck and C.A.Mees, editors,
Proceedings of the IEA/BE T6/A6 Workshop: Long-term
Field Trials to Assess Environmental Impacts of Harvesting,
February, 1990, Amelia Island, FL. IEA/BE T6/A6
- Report No. 5, Forest Research
Institute, Rotorua, New Zealand, FRI Bulletin No. 161.
Blum, U., T.R. Wentworth, K. Klein, A.D. Worsham, L.D.
King, T.M. Gerig, and S.-W. Lyu. 1991.
- Phenolic acid content
of soils from wheat-no till, wheat-conventional till,
and fallow-conventional till soybean cropping systems.
Journal of Chemical Ecology 17:1045-1068.
- Fredericksen, T.S., H.L.
Allen, and T.R. Wentworth. 1991. Competing vegetation
and pine growth response to silvicultural treatments
in a six-year-old Piedmont loblolly pine plantation.
Southern Journal of Applied Forestry 15(3):138-144.
- Wentworth, T.R., M.P.
Schafale, A.S. Weakley, R.K. Peet, P.S. White, and C.C.
Frost. 1992. A preliminary classification of North Carolina
barrier island forests. Pages 31-46 in C.A. Cole and
K. Turner (eds.), Barrier Island Ecology of the Mid-Atlantic
Coast: A Symposium. U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta,
GA.
- Allen, H.L., and T.R.
Wentworth. 1993. Vegetation control and site preparation
affect patterns of shoot elongation for three-year-old
loblolly pine. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 23:2110-2115.
- Sacco, J.N., E.D. Seneca,
and T.R. Wentworth. 1994. Infaunal community development
of artificially established salt marshes in North Carolina.
Estuaries 17:489-500.
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