Professor Emeritus of Forest Ecology
By appointment. Please send email.
While the main focus of my research has always been aimed at better understanding ecological relationships in forests and grasslands, I have found that the integration of knowledge from other disciplines is often a vital part of understanding the broad picture which is requisite to doing meaningful conservation work. Early in my career I was able to develop research information that was key to changing conservation practices and policies on the
consulting, public education, and various aspects of conservation. I am now quite involved in work relating to
promote sustainability and conservation of temperate rainforests in Alaska, and promoting citizen science
with the natural history guide and a nation-wide phenology monitoring program (Project Budburst and National
Phenology Network)
Ph.D. Forest Science (forest ecology) September 1980. Thesis topic: understory biomass successional dynamics in the Sitka spruce-western hemlock forests of southeastern Alaska. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.
B.S. Botany, B.S. Forest Science. University of Washington, Seattle, WA 1976.
International Studies Program. Central Washington State College, Ellensburg, WA. and University of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. 1974.
Professional societies
--American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1983
--Ecological Society of America since 1995
--Montana Native Plant Society since 1995
My research centers on structure and function of forests and their relation to biological diversity across a range of scales. I am specifically interested in old growth ecology, biogeographic and land-use effects on plant diversity, global distribution and ecology of temperate rainforests, and understory vegetation ecology. I am also interested in comparing parallel ecosystems in North and South America to address the role of historic and societal influences on contemporary ecological processes. Current projects include ecological effects of salvage logging, effects of thinning on understory plants, ecology of exotic species, demography of long-lived forest understory plants, and developing better resources for learning natural history.
Alaback, Paul B. 1982. Dynamics of understory biomass in
Alaback,P.B. 1986. Biomass equations for understory vegetation in coastal
Alaback,P.B. and F.J. Herman. 1988. Long-term response of understory vegetation to stand density in Picea - Tsuga forests. Can J. For. Res. 18:1522-1530
Alaback, P.B. and G.P. Juday. 1989. Structure and composition of old-growth forests in the Research Natural Areas of Southeast Alaska. Journal of the Natural Areas Association 9:27-39.
Tappeiner, J.C. II and Paul B. Alaback. 1989. Early establishment and vegetative growth of understory species in the western hemlock
Alaback,P.B. 1991. Comparative ecology of temperate rainforests of the
den Ouden, J. and Paul B. Alaback. 1996. Successional trends and biomass of mosses on windthrow mounds in the temperate rainforests of southeast
Mouw, Jason and Paul B. Alaback. 2003. Putting floodplain hyperdiversity in a regional context: an assessment of terrestrial-floodplain connectivity in a montane environment. J. Biogeography 30:87-103.
Pauchard,A. , P. Alaback, and E. Edlund. 2003. Studying plant invasions in protected areas at multiple scales: Linaria vulgaris (Scrophulariaceae) in the
Pauchard,A. and P. Alaback. 2004. Roads as dispersal corridors for exotic plants in protected areas of South Central Chile: How elevation and land-use influence invasion patterns. Conservation Biology 18:238-248.
Alex Fajardo and Paul Alaback. 2005. Effects of natural and human disturbances on the dynamics and spatial structure of Nothofagus glauca in south-central
Anibal Pauchard and Paul Alaback 2006. Edge type defines alien plant species invasions along Pinus contorta burned, highway and clearcut forest edges.
Scientific Books & Book Chapters
Hall,J.K. and P.B. Alaback. 1982. Preliminary checklist of the vascular flora of McDonald and
Alaback, Paul B. and Michael McClellan. 1993. Effects of global warming on managed coastal ecosystems of western
Alaback, Paul B. 1993. North-South Comparisons: Managed systems. Chapter 24. p 347-348. In: H.A. Mooney, E. Fuentes and B.I. Kronberg (eds.). Contrasts in global change responses between North and South America. Academic Press.
Veblen,T.T. and P.B. Alaback. 1995. A comparative review of forest dynamics and disturbance in the temperate rainforests in North and
Alaback,P.B. 1995. Biodiversity patterns in relation to climate: the coastal temperate rainforests of
R. Lawford, P. Alaback, and E.R. Fuentes (eds.). 1995. High-latitude rain forests and associated ecosystems of the west coast of the
Alaback,Paul B. and J. Pojar. 1997. Vegetation from ridgetop to seashore. p 69-87 In: The Environment and people of coastal temperate rain forest. Peter K. Schoonmaker and Bettina von Hagen (eds.). Island Press
Alaback, P.B., M. Krebs, and P. Rosen. 2000. Ecological characteristics and natural disturbances of interior rainforests of northern
Alaback,P.B., T.T. Veblen, C. Whitlock, A. Lara, T. Kitzberger and R. Villalaba. 2003. Climatic and human influences on fire regimes in temperate forest ecosystems in North and
Symposia and Proceedings
Alaback, Paul B. and R. E. Frenkel 1978. Preserve analysis:
Alaback, Paul B. 1982. Long-term community structural changes during secondary succession in southeast
Alaback,P.B. 1984. Contrasting old-growth and second growth forest structure in the
Alaback,P.B. 1984. Plant succession following logging in the
Alaback,P.B. and Roy Sidle 1986. Biomass, productivity, structure and nutrients of riparian vegetation on a small forested watershed in southeastern
Alaback, P.B. 1987. Biomass-dimension relationships of understory vegetation in relation to site and stand age. p 141-148 In Wharton,Eric H.; Cunia, Tiberius. Estimating tree biomass regressions and their error. Proc. of the Workshop. May 26-30 1986.
Alaback, P.B. 1988. Measuring light interception through conifer canopies. p 82-83 In: E. Hamilton and S. Watts (eds.) Proceedings of the third annual vegetation management workshop, February 15-17, 1988, Vancouver, B.C. Research Branch Ministry of Forests and Lands, Victoria, B.C.
Alaback, PB (1990) Dynamics of old-growth temperate rainforests in
Doyle, Arlene T., Paul Alaback, Matthew D. Kirchhoff, Jere Christner and Ronald R. Wolfe. 1989. Biodiversity and watershed management. p 13-22. In: Alexander,E.L. (ed.) Proceedings of Watershed 89, March 21-23, 1989.
Alaback, P.B. 1989. Logging of temperate rainforests and the greenhouse effect-- some ecological factors to consider. p 195-202. In: Alexander,E.L. (ed.) Proceedings of Watershed 89, March 21-23, 1989.
Samson,F., Paul Alaback, Jere Christner, and Tom Demeo. 1989. Conservation of rain forests in
Alaback,P.B.; Naiman,R. and J. Pastor 1991. Plant ecology. pp 34-39 In: Bryant,M. D. (Tech. ed.) The
Samson,F.; Suring,L.; and P.B. Alaback. 1989. Discovering the diversity of the North American rainforest. p 8-10 (In) Summer 1989 issue USDA Forest Service Habitat Futures, Wildlife and Fish Ecology Unit,
Alaback, P.B. 1991. Yellow
Alaback, Paul B. and James Wiegand. 1992. Coastal Temperate Rainforests: definition and global distribution. Ecotrust Special Report. On File, Ecotrust,
Kirchhoff,M.D.; Hanley, T.A.; Alaback P.B.; Prather, M.L.; Weyermann, D.L. 1990. The Deer submodel. p 64-78 In: SAMM: a prototype southeast
Alaback,P.B. 1993. Temperate rainforests in
Means,J.E.; H.A. Hansen; G.J. Koerper, P.B. Alaback and M.W. Klopsch. 1994. Software for computing plant biomass-- BIOPAK users guide.
Hartwell,M. and Paul Alaback. 1996. Determination of fire-initiated landscape patterns: restoring fire mosaics on the landscape. p 46-48 In: C.Hardy and S.F. Arno (eds.), The use of fire in forest restoration. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-341.
Brown, Michael J, Paul B. Alaback, and Thomas T. Veblen. 1998. Floristic monitoring in the cool temperate rain forest biome. Chapter 27 p 481-491 In: Monitoring Biodiversity. Proceedings of a workshop. Smithsonian Institution,
Hartwell,M.G., Paul Alaback and Steven F. Arno. 2000. Comparing historic and modern forests on the Bitterroot Front. P 11-16 In: Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project: What we have learned. Symposium Proceedings, M issoula, MT, May 18-20, 1999.
Miller, Carol, Peter B. Landres, and Paul B. Alaback. 2000. Evaluating risks and benefits of wildland fire at landscape scales. In: Proceed. Fire Science Conf.
Six, Diana, Paul Alaback, Robert A. Winfree, Della Snyder and Anne Hagele. 2000. Wilderness for science: pros and cons of using wilderness areas for biological research. p 271-275 In: S.F. McCool, D.N. Cole, W.T. Borrie and J. O’Loughlin (eds). Wilderness Science in a time of change conference.
Pauchard, A. and Alaback, P. 2002. La amenaza de plantas invasoras.
Sikkink,P. and P. Alaback. In press. Through the historical lens: An examination of compositional change in
General Books and Articles
Alaback, Paul. 1988. Endless battles, verdant survivors. (The ecology of
Alaback, Paul. 1990. Alerce: the South American Giant. The World & I Magazine. October pp 316-321.
J. Pojar and A. MacKinnon (eds). 1994. Plants of the
Alaback,P.B., K. Lertzman and N. Turner. 1994. Introduction. p 11-27 In: J. Pojar and A. MacKinnon (eds). Plants of the
Alaback,Paul. 1996. A last hope for sustainability. Inner Voice 8(5): 15.
Alaback,P.B. 1999. A sense of place and time -- the Tongass rainforest. pp 53-70 In: The Book of the Tongass. Don Snow and Carolyn Servid, Editors. Milkweed Press.
Alaback, Paul. 2005. Conservation. Book review of Clive Hambler “Conservation”, Cambridge Univ. Press. Ecology 86(6):1661-1663.
Alaback, P.B. 2005. Was Fernow wrong? Reflections on the search for a sustainable timber industry in
Lead Scientist, Project Budburst (http://www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen_science/budburst/)
Board of Directors, Northwest Connections
Consultant for Nature Conservancy-Alaska
Science Advisor, Aububon Society -Alaska
My international work has been key to being able to better understand ecology and to place the work I have been involved with in a larger context. My international work has mostly focused on understanding the ecology of temperate rainforests and associated xeric forests in the Patagonia region of South America. I have also studied temperate rainforests in Canada and Europe. I teach a course on the ecology of Patagonia, and am working on a book on the natural history of plants in Patagonia
Photography, solar greenhouses, gardening, environmental education, observational astronomy, nature writing, conservation, music
Alaback,P., G. Nowacki and S. Saunders. In Press. Disturbance Ecology of the Temperate Rainforests of Southeast Alaska and Adjacent British Columbia. In: J.W. Schoen and G. Orians, eds. Ecology & Conservation of North Temperate Rainforests. University of Washington Press, Seattle.
Bisbing, S.M., P.B. Alaback and T. Deluca. 2010. Carbon storage in old-growth and second growth fire-dependent western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) forests of the inland Northwest, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 259:1041-1049.
Mouw, Jason E.B., Stanford, Jack A.. and Paul B. Alaback. 2009. Influences of flooding and hyporheic exchange on floodplain plant richness and productivity. River Research and Applications 25:929-945.
Anibal Pauchard and Paul Alaback 2006. Edge type defines alien plant species invasions along Pinus contorta burned, highway and clearcut forest edges.
Alaback, P.B. 2005. Was Fernow wrong? Reflections on the search for a sustainable timber industry in
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R. Lawford, P. Alaback, and E.R. Fuentes (eds.). 1995. High-latitude rain forests and associated ecosystems of the west coast of the
