F. Leland Russell PhD

Plant population ecology, plant-herbivore interactions.

My research interests are in plant population ecology and in plant-animal interactions. An over-arching theme of my research is to enhance ecologists' understanding of the ecological conditions under which herbivores (animals that consume living plant tissue) limit the abundances of individual plant species. This topic is of applied significance for limiting populations of weedy or invasive plant species and for understanding limitation of population growth of plant species of conservation concern.  Recently, my students, collaborators and I have addressed questions related to how herbivore damage to plants varies in relation to the composition of the neighboring plant community, surrounding land use and the plant population’s location within its geographic range.  We also have addressed questions related to how the limiting effects of herbivores on plant lifetime seed production and population growth vary with abiotic resource availability.  We address these questions primarily in two study systems; interactions between thistles (Cirsium spp.) and the insects that attack their reproductive structures and interactions between juvenile oaks of various species and white-tailed deer that browse them.

Ecology, Plant-Animal Interactions, Conservation Biology, Biostatistics

Selected publications

• Minette JH, N Keoshkerian and FL Russell. 2022. Associational effects, landscape context and plant height affect white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) browse selectivity on oak woodlands. Journal of Vegetation Science: doi10.1111/jvs.13142.
• Cory BJ and FL Russell. 2022. Deer browsing and light availability limit post oak (Quercus stellata) sapling growth and post-fire recovery in a xeric woodland. Forest Ecology and Management 519:120346.
• Russell FL and GR Houseman. 2019. Context dependency of insect and mammalian herbivore effects on tall thistle (Cirsium altissiumum) populations. Journal of Plant Ecology: doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rty045.
• McMinn RL, FL Russell and JB Beck. 2017. Demographic structure and genetic variability of Platte thistle (Cirsium canescens Asteraceae) across its geographic range. Journal of Biogeography 44: 375 – 385.
• Adhikari S and FL Russell. 2014. Effects of apical meristem mining on plant fitness, architecture, and flowering phenology in Cirsium altissimum (Asteraceae). American Journal of Botany 101: 2079-2087.

2020-present: Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Wichita State University

2012-present: Graduate Coordinator, Department of Biological Sciences, Wichita State University

2011-2020: Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Wichita State University

2005-2011: Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Wichita State University

2003-2004: Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

2001-2003: Post-Doctoral Associate, Department of Biology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

1999-2000: Teaching Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, St. Edwards University