Scott Franklin

PhD, Southern Illinois University, 1996.
Area of Study: Plant Ecology

PhD, University of Joensuu, 1996.
Area of Study: Biology/Forestry

MS, Southern Illinois University, 1990.
Area of Study: Forest Ecology

BS, Upper Iowa University, 1988.
Area of Study: Biology/Conservation Management; Minor in Chemistry

International Visiting Scholar, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
Institute of Botany (Spring 2016)

International Visiting Scholar, Wuhan Botanic Garden, China
Chinese Academy of Sciences (Fall 2015)

Professor, University of Northern Colorado
School of Biological Sciences (2014 – Present)

Interim Associate Dean of Research, University of Northern Colorado
College of Natural and Health Sciences (2014-2015)

Associate Professor, University of Northern Colorado
School of Biological Sciences (2011-2014)

Assistant Professor, University of Northern Colorado
School of Biological Sciences (2008-2011)

Associate Professor, University of Memphis
Department of Biology (2003-2008)

Assistant Professor, University of Memphis
Department of Biology (1997-2003)

Lecturer, Southern Illinois University
Department of Plant Biology (1996-1997)

J. William Fulbright Research Fellow, University of Joensuu
Department of Biology (1995-1996)

Areas of Interest

My research interests settle around the dynamics of vegetation in relation to disturbance. I am interested in the short and long-term response of vegetation communities to natural and applied (restoration) disturbance. I am also interested in the spatial and temporal patterns of disturbances, which have an obvious effect on their severity. The two main disturbances that I have researched are fire and flooding. In addition, I am interested in clonal plant ecology.

Temporal Forest Changes in Rocky Mountain National Park

The objective of the proposed study is to examine the changes in Colorado Front Range forest communities over an approximately forty year period; 1972/3 to 2011/12. Since the 1970s, Colorado forests have been affected by fires (both prescribed and natural), thinning management practices, drought, and a bark beetle epidemic. Because fire, bark beetle outbreaks, and drought are all climate-related phenomena, studying the change in vegetation in response to these drivers will help understand their interactions and impacts (Sibold et al. 2007). We hypothesize that forests have changed drastically since the early 1970s, and that changes will be greatest where multiple disturbances occurred. We further hypothesize that changes will be greatest in the mixed forest zone (includes bark beetle epidemic, sudden aspen decline syndrome, and fires – all potentially climate-driven), as opposed to the Ponderosa Pine communities or the subalpine spruce-fir communities. Chance and species-specific responses will be magnified with higher diversity communities.

• Fois, Mauro, Corrado Marcenò and Scott B. Franklin. 2023. Editorial: Floristic and Vegetation Studies at the Era of Big Data: Challenges, Trends and Applications. Front. Ecol. Evol. – Biogeography and Macroecology 11:1220026. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1220026/full10.3389/fevo.2023.1220026. Intro to Special Issue.
• Mercado, Javier E., Robert T. Walker, Scott Franklin, Shannon L. Kay, Beatriz Ortiz-Santana, and S. Karen Gomez. 2023. Xylem traumatic resin duct formation in response to stem fungal inoculation in Douglas-fir and lodgepole pine. Forests 14:502. https://doi.org/10.3390/f14030502.
• Wang, W. & Scott B. Franklin & Zhijun Lu. 2023. Small-scale spatial patterns of bamboos Bashania fargesii and Fargesia qinlingensis in the Qinling Mountains, China. Advances in Bamboo Science 2:100018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bamboo.2023.100018.
• Lu, Zhijun & Scott B. Franklin. 2022. Revisiting ramet connection under homogeneous water availability environments. Flora (Special issue: Ecological Implications for Plant Clonality) 296: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2022.152163
• Lu, Zhijun & Scott B. Franklin. 2022. Clonal integration and regeneration in bamboo Bashania fargesii. Forest Ecology & Management 523:120504.
• Shuman, J.K. J.K. Balch, R.T. Barnes, P.E. Higuera, C.I. Roos, D.W. Schwilk, E.N. Stavros, T. Banerjee, M.M. Bela, J. Bendix, S. Bertolino, S. Bililign, K.D. Bladon, P. Brando, R.E. Breidenthal, B. Buma, D. Calhoun, L.M.V. Carvalho, M.E. Cattau, K.M. Cawley, S. Chandra, M.L. Chipman, J. Cobian-Iñiguez, E. Conlisk, J.D. Coop, A. Cullen, K.T. Davis, A. Dayalu, F. De Sales, M. Dolman, L.M. Ellsworth, S. Franklin, C.H. Guiterman, M. Hamilton, E.J. Hanan, W.D. Hansen, S. Hantson, B.J. Harvey, A. Holz, T. Huang, M.D. Hurteau, N.T. Ilangakoon, M. Jennings, C. Jones, A. Klimaszewski-Patterson, L.N. Kobziar, J. Kominoski, B. Kosovic, M.A. Krawchuk, Paul Laris, J. Leonard, S.M. Loria-Salazar, M. Lucash, H. Mahmoud, E. Margolis, T. Maxwell, J.L. McCarty, D.B. McWethy, R.S. Meyer, J.R. Miesel, W.K. Moser, R.C. Nagy, D. Niyogi, H.M. Palmer, A. Pellegrini, B. Poulter, K. Robertson, A.V. Rocha, M. Sadegh, F. Santos, F. Scordo, J.O. Sexton, A.S. Sharma, A.M.S. Smith, A.J. Soja, C. Still, T. Swetnam, A.D. Syphard, M.W. Tingey, A. Tohidi, A.T. Trugman, M. Turetsky, J.M. Varner, Y. Wang, T. Whitman, S. Yelenik & X. Zhang. 2022. Reimagine Fire Science for the Anthropocene. PNAS Nexus 1:1-14. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac115.
• Mercado, Javier E., Robert T. Walker, Scott Franklin, Shannon L. Kay, Susana Karen Gomez and Robert M. Hubbard. 2021. Changes in transpiration and leaf water potential in Douglas-fir trees following Douglas-fir beetle attack and mechanical girdling. Forests 12, 1722. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12121722.
• Hunter, John, Scott Franklin, Sarah Luxton & Javier Loidi. 2021. Terrestrial biomes: a conceptual review. Vegetation Classification and Survey 2:73-85. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS/2021/61463. Received Editor’s Choice Award.
• Franklin, Scott B., Tomas Herben, Rob Salguero-Gomez, Jitka Klimesova, Zdenek Janovsky, Peter Alpert & Vladimir Douhovnikoff. 2021. Next-gen plant clonal ecology. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 49:125601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2021.125601
• George P. Malanson, Michelle L. Talal, Elizabeth R. Pansing, and Scott B. Franklin. 2021. Vegetation ecology with anthropic drivers and consequences. Progress in Physical Geography 45: 446-459. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133321999371
• Franklin, Scott B., Michael Schiebout and Jozef Šibik. 2020. Vegetation Classification Exercise for the Pawnee National Grasslands, USA. Vegetation Classification and Survey 1:123-137. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS/2020/38629
• Malanson, George, Scott B. Franklin, Michelle L. Talal and Elizabeth R. Pansing. 2020. Human Dimensions: Vegetation Ecology. The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.1776
• Franklin, Scott B., Paweł Olejniczak, Ewa Samulak, Mária Šibíková, Tomáš Bacigál, Juraj Nechaj & Jozef Šibík. 2020. Clonal plants in disturbed mountain forests: heterogeneity enhances ramet integration. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 44: 125533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2020.125533
• Hobohm, Carsten, Monika Janišová, Manuel Steinbauer, Sara Landi, Richard Field, Sula Vanderplank, Carl Beierkuhnlein, John-Arvid Grytnes, Ole Reidar Vetaas, Alessandra Fidelis, Lea de Nascimento, Vincent Ralph Clark, José María Fernández-Palacios, Scott Franklin, Riccardo Guarino, Jihong Huang, Pavel Krestov, Keping Ma,Vladimir Onipchenko, Mike W. Palmer, Marcelo Fragomeni Simon, Christian Stolza, Alessandro Chiarucci. 2019. Global endemics-area relationships of vascular plants. Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecon.2019.04.002.
• Xu, Yaozhan, Haiyan Huang, Xiujuan Qiao, Zhijun Lu, Scott Franklin, Zheng Shi, Yoshiko Iida, Dachuan Bao, Yiqi Luo & Mingxi Jiang. 2019. Linkages between tree architectural designs and life-history strategies in a subtropical montane moist forest. Forest Ecology & Management 438: 1-9.
• Bretfeld, Mario,Scott B. Franklin & Robert K. Peet. 2019. Long-term vegetation dynamics of mixed aspen forests in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA. Journal of Vegetation Science 30 https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12712
• Ke Guo, Chang-Cheng Liu, Zong-Qiang Xie, Frank Yonghong Li, Scott B. Franklin, Zhi-Jun Lu & Ke-Ping Ma. 2018. China Vegetation Classification: concept, approach and applications. Phytocoenologia 48. https://doi.org/10.1127/phyto/2017/0166.
• De Cáceres, M., Franklin, Scott B., Hunter, John T., Landucci, Flavia, Dengler, Jürgen, Roberts, David W. 2018. Global overview of plot-based vegetation classification approaches. Phytocoenologia 48: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1127/phyto/2018/0256. (SPECIAL ISSUE INTRODUCTION)
• Ahn, Jehwoo, Scott B. Franklin & Vladimir Douhovnikoff. 2017. Epigenetic variation in clonal stands of aspen. Folia Geobotanica 52: 443-449.
• Meng, H., X. Wei, S. B. Franklin, H. Wu, M. Jiang. 2017. Geographical variation and the role of climate in leaf traits of a relict tree species across its distribution in China. Plant Biology 19: 552–561.
• Franklin, S.B., Xiujuan Qiao & Zhijun Lu. 2017. Spatial Patterns of Species Biodiversity in Terrestrial Environments. Oxford Bibliographies https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199830060-0179.
• Bretfeld, M., Scott B. Franklin & Robert M. Hubbard. 2017. Initial evidence for simultaneous, bi-directional sap flow in roots of interconnected aspen ramets (Populus tremuloides). Folia Geobotanica 52:345-352.
• Hao, Wu, Scott B. Franklin, Jianming Liu & Zhijun Lu. 2017. Relative importance of density dependence and topography on tree mortality in a subtropical mountain forest. Forest Ecology & Management 384: 169-179.
• Wang Q., Punchi-Manage R., Lu Z., Franklin S., Wang Z., Li Y., Chi X., Bao D., Guo Y., Lu J., Xu Y., Qiao X. and Jiang M. 2016. Effects of topography on structuring species assemblages in a subtropical forest. J Plant Ecol. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtw047
• Franklin, S.B., Hunter, J., De Cáceres, M., Dengler, J., Krestov, P., Landucci, F. 2016. Introducing the IAVS Vegetation Classification Working Group. Phytocoenologia 46: 5-8. https://doi.org/10.1127/phyto/2016/0116.
• Wang, Wei, Scott B. Franklin, Zhijun Lu & Brian J. Rude. 2016. Delayed Flowering in Bamboo: Evidence from in the Qinling Mountains of China. Frontiers in Plant Science 7:151. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.00151.
• Bretfeld, M., Scott B. Franklin & Robert K. Peet. 2016. A multiple-scale assessment of long-term aspen persistence and elevational range shifts in the Colorado Front Range. Ecological Monographs 86:244-260. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-1195.1.
• Qiao, Xiujuan, Junmeng Lu, Qianxi Li, Qinggang Wang, Zhiyao Tang, Scott Franklin, Jiaxin Zhang, Zhijun Lu, Dachuan Bao, Yili Guo, Haibo Liu, Yaozhan Xu, & Mingxi Jiang. 2015. Beta diversity determinants in Badagonshan, a subtropical forest in central China. Scientific Reports 5:17043. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep17043.
• Xu Y., J. Zhang, S.B. Franklin, J. Liang, P. Ding, Y. Luo, Z. Lu, D. Bao and M. Jiang. 2015. Improving allometry models to estimate the above- and belowground biomass of subtropical forest, China. Ecosphere 6(12): 289. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES15-00198.1
• De Cáceres, Miquel; Chytry, Milan; Agrillo, Emiliano; Attorre, Fabio; Botta-Dukát, Zoltán; Capelo, Jorge; Czúcz, Balint; Dengler, Jürgen; Ewald, Joerg; Faber-Langendoen, Don; Enrico, Feoli; Franklin, Scott; Gavilán, Rosario; Gillet, François; Jansen, Florian; Jiménez-Alfaro, Borja; Krestov, Pavel; Landucci, Flavia; Lengyel, Attila; Loidi, Javier; Mucina, Ladislav; Peet, Robert; Roberts, Dave; Roleček, Jan; Schaminée, Joop; Schmidtlein, Sebastian; Theurillat, Jean-Paul; Tichý, Lubomír; Walker, Donald; Wildi, Otto; Willner, Wolfgang; Wiser, Susan. 2015. A comparative framework for broad-scale plot-based vegetation classification. Applied Vegetation Science 18:543-560. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12179
• Bretfeld, Mario, James Doerner & S.B. Franklin. 2015. Radial growth response and vegetative sprouting of aspen following release from competition due to insect-induced conifer mortality. Forest Ecology & Management 347: 96-106.
• Beverly, Daniel & S.B. Franklin. 2015. Separation of heterotrophic and autotrophic contributions to soil CO2 efflux under simulated dormancy conditions. Open Journal of Forestry 5: 274-286. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojf.2015.53024.
• ESA Panel [Franklin, S.B. et al.]. 2015. How can a national vegetation classification help ecological research and management? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 13:185-186.
• Rayle, Courtney M., S.B. Franklin & Zhijun Lu. 2015. Fire occurrence in relation to bamboo dominance in the Qinling Mountains of China: Evidence from phytolith and charcoal records in Holocene sediments. SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences 58: 1182–1190.