SHARON K. COLLINGE
Assistant Professor, EPO Biology and Environmental Studies
University of Colorado

Harvard University (1990-1995): Ph.D. in Landscape Ecology

Research Interests

My research investigates the role of landscape spatial heterogeneity in shaping various ecological processes, including responses of individual organisms, populations, and communities to spatial variation in landscape structure. Current investigations emphasize 1) landscape distribution and dynamics of riparian habitat fragments in California's Central Valley, 2) influence of habitat spatial configuration on ecology and restoration of vernal pool plant communities, 3) dynamics of grassland landscape boundaries, and 4) grassland plant and animal diversity along urban landscape gradients.

Current/Recent Extramural Research Grants

Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence, 1999-2004, "Vernal pool and endangered species habitat mitigation," Phase III, Year 1 in progress. (sole PI).

Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence, 1998-1999, "Vernal pool and endangered species habitat mitigation," Phase I, (sole PI).

Publications Relevant to this Proposal

Collinge, S.K. and S.M. Louda. 1989a. Influence of plant phenology on the insect herbivore/bittercress interaction. Oecologia 79:111-116.

Louda, S.M. and S.K. Collinge. 1992. Plant resistance to insect herbivores: A field test of the environmental stress hypothesis. Ecology 73:153-169.

Bowers, M.D., N.E. Stamp and S.K. Collinge. 1992. Early stage of a host range expansion by a specialist herbivore, Euphydryas phaeton (Nymphalidae). Ecology 73:526-536.

Collinge, S.K. 1996. Ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation: implications for landscape architecture and planning. Landscape and Urban Planning 36:59-77.

Forman, R.T.T. and S.K. Collinge. 1996. The "spatial solution" to conserving biodiversity in landscapes and regions. In R.M. DeGraaf and R.I. Miller (eds.), Conservation of Faunal Diversity in Forested Landscapes, pp. 537-568. Chapman and Hall, London.

Forman, R.T.T. and S.K. Collinge. 1997. Nature conserved in changing landscapes with and without spatial planning. Landscape and Urban Planning 37:129-135.

Collinge, S.K. and R.T.T. Forman. 1998. A conceptual model of land conversion processes: predictions and evidence from a field experiment with grassland insects. Oikos 82:66-84.

Collinge, S.K. 1998. Spatial arrangement of patches and corridors: clues from ecological field experiments. Landscape and Urban Planning 42:157-168.

Collinge, S.K. Effects of grassland fragmentation on insect species loss, re-colonization, and movement patterns. Ecology, in press.

Huxel, G. and S.K. Collinge. Modeling population viability for the threatened Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle: effects of habitat loss, fragmentation, and restoration. Submitted to Ecological Applications.

Wise, C. A. and S. K. Collinge. Germination, early growth, and flowering in Lasthenia conjugens (Asteraceae), an endangered vernal pool annual. Submitted to Restoration Ecology.

Collinge, S.K. , M. Holyoak, J.T. Marty, and C. Barr. Riparian habitat fragmentation and population persistence of the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in northern California. Submitted to Biological Conservation.

Collinge, S.K. (Editor). Spatial Ecology and Conservation. Special issue of Biological Conservation, to be published Fall 2000.

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