Associate Professor of Environmental Science (Ecology)
My broad research interests lie in understanding controls on species’ distributions.
I am particularly interested in the factors that dictate range-limits and migration
patterns of tree species. My research program asks:
What are the climatic factors controlling a species’ range?
What other extrinsic factors, both abiotic (e.g. nutrient and moisture limitations) and biotic (e.g. competition, herbivory), interact with climate to allow species to successfully colonize
and inhabit an area?
How do intrinsic factors such as population dynamics, dispersal capability, and genetic
variability also act on controlling species’ distributions?
Lesser, M. R. and J.D. Fridley. 2015. Global change at the landscape level: relating regional and
landscape-scale drivers of historical climate trends the Southern Appalachians. International Journal of Climatology. DOI: 10.1002/joc.4413
Siefert, A., M.R. Lesser and J.D. Fridley. 2015 How do climate and dispersal traits limit ranges of tree species
along latitudinal and elevational gradients? Global Ecology and Biogeography. 24: 581-593
Lesser, M.R., T.L. Parchman, and S.T. Jackson. 2013. Population genetics through time: the development
of genetic structure in four ponderosa pine populations over 500 years. Molecular Ecology. 22: 2640-2652
Lesser, M.R. and S.T. Jackson. 2013. Contributions of long-distance dispersal to population growth
in colonizing Pinus ponderosa populations. Ecology Letters. 6(2): 380-389. Recommended by Faculty of 1000.
Lesser, M.R. and S. Brewer. 2012. How sampling affects estimates of demographic parameters. Journal of Vegetation Science. 23: 1170-1179
Lesser, M.R. and S. T. Jackson. 2012. Making a stand: Five centuries of population growth in colonizing
stands of Pinus ponderosa. Ecology. 95(3): 1071-1081
Lesser, M.R., T.L. Parchman, and C.A. Buerkle. 2012. Cross-species transferability of SSR loci
developed from 454 transcriptome sequencing in lodgepole pine. Molecular Ecology Resources. 12: 448-455. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2011.03102.x
Lesser, M.R. and S.T. Jackson. 2011. Reliability of woodrat (Neotoma) middens for detecting low-density
tree populations. Paleobiology. 37(4): 603-615.
Lesser, M. R. and W. H. Parker. 2006. Comparison of canonical- and regression- based focal point
seed zones of white spruce. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 36: 1572-1586.
Lesser, M. R. and W. H. Parker. 2004. Genetic variation in Picea glauca for growth and phenological traits from provenance tests in Ontario. Silvae Genetica. 53(4):141-148.
Lesser, M. R., M. Cherry and W.H. Parker. 2004. Investigation of limestone ecotypes of white spruce
based on a provenance test series. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 34: 1119-1127