Faculty & Staff

Biography

I am fascinated by the structure and dynamics of species-rich forests, particularly tropical cloud forests. Defined by, and dependent upon, immersion in cloud, cloud forests characteristically occur in tropical mountains where air is forced by the terrain to rise to the lifting condensation level -- the point of cloud formation. I am involved in collaborative projects, funded by NASA and NSF, which investigate the processes - both local and regional - influencing cloud formation and the interception of cloud water in the Cordillera de Tilarán of northern Costa Rica, home to the well-known Monteverde cloud forests. In the windswept Monteverde cloud forests, strong gradients in forest structure and species composition parallel a gradient of exposure to wind and cloud, which may be changing due to global and regional influences. I am part of a group establishing a research program to evaluate species distribution and performance along this changing gradient. Windthrow of trees is common in these forests, and concentrated during strong winter storms associated with outbreaks of North American polar air. Demographic analyses of a dominant tree species suggest, however, that these forests are in equilibrium with chronic disturbance by storms. Ongoing monitoring is aimed at addressing temporal variation in storm disturbance due to climatic oscillations such as the El Nino/Southern Oscillation, and the relation of spatial variation in the pace of community dynamics to community composition. In addition to my cloud forest research interests, I work with students to study various problems in temperate forest plant ecology and population dynamics. I am also involved with the UAH Natural Products Research Group, and share with my wife, Dr. Marcy F. Lawton, a serious interest in corvids.

Education

• Ph.D., Ecology, University of Chicago, 1980
• B.S., Botany, magna cum laude, Duke University, 1972

Expertise

• Ecology
• Conservation

Recent Publications

• "Quantitative measures of immersion in cloud and the biogeography of cloud forest." Mountains in the Mist: Science for conserving and managing tropical montane cloud forest. Lawton, R. O. , U. S. Nair, D. K. Ray, A. Regmi, A. Pounds, & R. M. Welch.

• "Impact of deforestation on orographic cloud formation in a complex tropical environment." Mountains in the Mist: Science for conserving and managing tropical montane cloud forest. L. A. Bruijnzeel, J. Juvik, F. N. Scatena, L. S. Hamilton & P. Bubb (eds).

• "Complex spatial structure in a population of Didymopanax pittieri, a tree of wind-exposed lower montane rain forest." Plant Ecology. 210: 125-135. Lawton, R. M. and R. O. Lawton (2010).