venus flytrap


Dr. Thomas R. Wentworth -Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor
Plant Community Ecology

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.