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Elizabeth Fortson
Wells
Associate Professor of Botany
Native and Naturalized Plants in Eastern America
Department of Biological Sciences
The George Washington University
Lisner Hall 348, 2023 G Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20052
Lab: (202) 994-6970
Office: (202) 994-4584
Fax: (202) 994-6100
E-Mail: efwells@gwu.edu
Dept E-mail : biology@gwu.edu
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Education:
B.A. Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA
M.A. in Botany, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1970
Ph.D. in Botany, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1977
Post-Doctoral Work: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC,
Canada
Research Interests:
Native and naturalized alien vascular plants in eastern North America, biology
of harperella (Ptilimnium nodosum), endangered plant species
and habitats in Mid-Atlantic States, floristics of Mid-Atlantic
States, plant community ecology in undisturbed and disturbed landscapes,
vegetation analysis in the Central Appalachians, wetland vascular
plant ecology, early floristics records in eighteenth century Virginia,
systematics of Heuchera (Saxifragaceae).
My research focuses on monitoring native and alien vascular plant
species and their communities in selected sites in the Mid-Atlantic
States, especially Virginia and Maryland. In my newest endeavor
, I am studying an endangered species, Harperella (Ptilimnium nodosum)
in the carrot family, in the Potomac River drainage of western Maryland
and adjacent West Virginia. I am monitoring the known populations,
analyzing their habitat, and studying the reproduction of these
plants. My goal is to restore habitat and reintroduce Harperella
plants to new sites within its historical range in western Maryland.
In addition, I am working on several floristic projects in the Washington area. One is a vegetation study of about 5000 acres of forests and wetlands at Fort Belvoir, Fairfax County, Virginia. The second is a study of the flood plain and upland communities on Plummers Island in the Potomac River gorge of Montgomery County, Maryland. The third is a study of the artificial wetlands of the Dulles Greenway created in 1995 and 1996. In these studies, I am monitoring native and alien species for presence and analyzing plant communities to determine the relative importance of native and alien plant species. These studies will compile information needed by the scientific community, which aspires to a better understanding of how vegetation varies with respect to local conditions, and the conservation and natural resource management community, which requires information on the abundance, conditions, and threats to conservation of natural ecosystems.
I am also involved in a collaborative project with Dr. Richard Tollo of the GWU Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in field research concerned with understanding relationships between geological and botanical processes in natural environments within the central Appalachian Mountains. We are presently engaged in research projects concerned with investigating the following field-based topics: (1) the nature of remnant herbaceous plant communities developed at high altitudes in the central Applachians, and (2) the sequence of plant succession developed in areas affected by recent, catastrophic slope failures associated with landslides in the Virginia Blue Ridge. The high altitude project involves herbaceous plants that were formerly widespread during cooler Pleistocene climates and that remain today in the Mid-Atlantic States only at high elevations. The landslide project involves detailed documentation of the sequence of plant colonization in areas affected by recent debris slides and is particularly concerned with investigating the effects of alien plant species and mode of dispersal in reforestation of the denuded environments resulting from the landslides.
RECENT
PUBLICATIONS
Wells, E. F., and R.L. Brown. 2000. An annotated checklist of
the vascular plants in the forest at historic Mount Vernon: a legacy
from the past. Castanea 65 (4): 242-257.
Wells, E. F. and R.L. Brown. 2000. Naturalized alien plant species
at Mount Vernon, Virginia. Huntia 11(1): 31-53.
Turner, C.L., E.J. Bedker, and E.F. Wells. 1999. Invasive exotic
vegetation management plan, Fort Belvoir. Prepared for U.S. Army
Garrison, Fort Belvoir, Directorate of Installation Support, Environmental
and Natural Resource Division. Published by Paciulli, Simmons, and
Associates. 36 pp. with appendices.
Wells, E.F. 1999. Biogeographical links between Appalachian and
western species of the genus Heuchera (Saxifragaceae). Pp. 59-71
in Proceedings of the Appalachian Biogeography Symposium, Ralph
Eckerlin, editor. Martinsville, Virginia, Virginia Museum of Natural
History.
Shipes, B.G., and E. F. Wells. 1996. Heuchera micrantha var. macropetala
(Saxifragaceae), a new variety. Rhodora 98: 365-368.
Courses:
Undergraduate:
Bisc
03 -The Diversity of Life, Fall
BiSc
13 - Introductory Biology: The Biology of Organisms, Fall
BiSc
140 - Taxonomy of Flowering Plants, Spring, Even Years
BiSc
142 - Flora of the Mid-Atlantic States, Summer
Bisc
155 - Plant Ecology, Fall, Odd Years
BiSc
158 - Field Botany, Fall, Even Years
BiSc
159 - Geobotanical Ecology of the Central Appalachians, Spring,
Odd Years
Graduate:
BiSc
221 -Variation and Evolution in Plants, Spring, Even Years
BiSc
242 - Advanced Plant Ecology, Spring, Odd Years
Funding:
The National Park Service is funding the work on Harperella through
2005. Funding is available for a full-time technician to work on Harperella from January through September 2004
(National Park Service).
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