Biological Sciences
Dr. Steven Kohler
Associate Professor
E-mail: steve.kohler@wmich.edu
Office: 3938 Wood Hall
Lab: 3007 Haenicke Hall
Office Phone: 269-387-2987
Lab phone: 269-387-0898
Visit his personal page http://homepages.wmich.edu/~kohlers/
Research Description
Area of Research: Population and Community Ecology/Aquatic Ecology
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Director of the Environmental Studies Program. My research focuses on the nature of interactions among species and the consequences of these interactions for the dynamics of populations and the structure of communities. These questions are addressed with experimental and observational approaches over a broad range of temporal and spatial scales, using trout streams as a model system. We are using replicated, long-term whole-stream perturbations, brought about by the disease-induced collapse of populations of a dominant competitor, to address questions regarding: 1) the effects of biotic processes and disturbance on food web structure, 2) the resilience of communities to perturbations in food web structure, and 3) the importance of disease in the dynamics of host populations and the structure and dynamics of communities. I am also interested in the responses of stream systems to environmental perturbations and restoration activities at local to watershed scales.
Students in Dr. Kohler's laboratory
Julie Ryan - Ph.D. degree program
Lindsey Nico - Undergraduate degree program
Nathan Skop - Undergraduate degree program
Jamie Timmins - Undergraduate degree program