Jeffrey S Dukes

Assistant Professor

Department: Forestry and Natural Resources
Phone: 765.494.1446
Fax: 765.494.9461
Office: PFEN 221A
E-mail: jsdukes@purdue.edu
Personal Web Page

Area of Expertise: Plant community and ecosystem ecology, global environmental change, biodiversity and biological invasions

Jeff Dukes and his research group seek to address environmental challenges through ecological research and outreach. Their research currently focuses on three themes: understanding how ecosystems respond to climate and atmospheric change, understanding and minimizing the impacts of invasive species on ecosystems, and exploring the ecological consequences of switching our energy supply from fossil fuels to biofuels. Dukes has a particular interest in understanding how changes in climate and the atmosphere will affect the success and impact of invasive species.   

Dukes directs the Boston-Area Climate Experiment (BACE), which characterizes ecosystem responses to gradients of climate change. Will the processes and properties of communities and ecosystems respond linearly to changes in temperature, or are there important threshold temperatures that could be reached? To what extent does an ecosystem’s response to warming depend on precipitation patterns? The BACE tests these questions in a New England old-field ecosystem. Researchers are measuring responses of several variables, including growth of wildflowers, grasses, and tree seedlings.  

Dukes’s past research has shown that some terrestrial ecosystems may slow climate change less than previously assumed, that some biodiversity losses may affect the success and impact of invasive species, that about 100 tons of ancient plant matter were required to produce a gallon of gasoline, and that replacing fossil fuels with modern plant matter would demand more than a quarter of all plant growth on land.

Dukes has appointments in the Departments of Forestry and Natural Resources and Biological Sciences at Purdue, and an adjunct appointment in the Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. More information and PDF files of Dukes’s publications are available here. Prospective students should contact Prof. Dukes by email after reading the information available here.

Research Group

Facilities

Areas of Excellence

Off-site:

Partnering for Land Use Sustainability

Purdue Interdisciplinary Center for Ecological Sustainability

- Recent Publications

Charles, H., & J. S. Dukes (2009). Effects of warming and altered precipitation on plant and nutrient dynamics of a New England salt marsh. Ecological Applications.

Dukes, J. S. (2009). Climate change. Encyclopedia of Invasive Introduced Species. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.

Aguilera, A., P. Alpert, J. S. Dukes, & R. Harrington (2009). Ecosystem impacts of the invasive plant Fallopia japonica. Biological Invasions, doi:10.1007/s10530-009-9543-z.

Dukes, J. S., J. Pontius, D. A. Orwig, J. R. Garnas, V. L. Rodgers, N. J. Brazee, B. J. Cooke, K. A. Theoharides, E. E. Strange, R. A. Harrington, J. G. Ehrenfeld, J. Gurevitch, M. Lerdau, K. Stinson, R. Wick, & M. P. Ayres (2009). Responses of insect pests, pathogens and invasive species to climate change in the forests of northeastern North America: What can we predict?. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 39, 231-248.

Amatangelo, K. L., J. S. Dukes, & C. B. Field (2008). Annual grassland responses to litter manipulation. Journal of Vegetation Science, 19, 605-612.

Gerten, D., Y. Luo, G. le Maire, W. J. Parton, C. Keough, E. Weng, C. Beier, P. Ciais, W. Cramer, J. S. Dukes, A. Sowerby, P. J. Hanson, A. Knapp, S. Linder, D. Nepstad, & L. Rustad (2008). Modelled Effects of Precipitation on Ecosystem Carbon and Water Dynamics in Different Climatic Zones. Global Change Biology, 14, 2365-2379.

Hellmann, J. J., J. E. Byers, B. G. Bierwagen, & J. S. Dukes (2008). Five potential consequences of climate change for invasive species. Conservation Biology, 22, 534-543.

Lee, H., D. A. Reusser II, J. D. Olden, S. S. Smith, J. Graham, V. Burkett, J. S. Dukes, R. J. Piorkowski, & J. McPhedran (2008). Integrated monitoring and information systems for managing aquatic invasive species in a changing climate. Conservation Biology, 22, 575-584.

Luo, Y., D. Gerten, G. le Maire, W. J. Parton, E. Weng, X. Zhou, C. Keough, C. Beier, P. Ciais, W. Cramer, J. S. Dukes, B. Emmett, P. J. Hanson, A. Knapp, S. Linder, D. Nepstad, & L. Rustad (2008). Modelled Interactive Effects of Precipitation, Temperature, and CO2 on Ecosystem Carbon and water Dynamics in Different Climate Zones. Global Change Biology, 14, 1986-1999.

Pyke, C. R., R. Thomas, R. D. Porter, J. Hellmann, J. S. Dukes, D. Lodge, & G. Chavarria (2008). Climate change and invasive species policy: interactions, tensions, and synergies. Conservation Biology, 22, 585-592.