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Phone: 217-244-5046
Fax: 217-244-0802
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| Activities: Principal duties include: coordination of botanical survey program with emphasis on threatened and endangered species and natural areas surveys and vegetation monitoring; teaching, and research. Teaching activities: Teach NRES 415, Native Plant ID and Floristics. Serve on graduate committees and help direct student research projects, occasional guest lecturer. Outreach activities: I give numerous presentations annually to public and professional groups with a focus on vegetational ecology. | ||||
| Research: Vegetation ecology of oak-dominated communities including flatwoods, barrens, and woodlands; methods for assessing floristic integrity; ecology of grasslands including prairies of Illinois and steppes of central Asia. | ||||
| Message to students: Please contact me for available opportunities. | ||||
| Recognition: Included on list of teachers ranked as excellent by students (2009-2014). | ||||
| Professional affiliations: International Association of Vegetation Scientists, Illinois Native Plant Society, Torrey Botanical Society | ||||
| Selected publications: Taft, J. B., and C. H. Dietrich. 2017. A test of concordance in community structure between leafhoppers and grasslands in the central Tien Shan Mountains. Arthropod-Plant Interactions. http://rdcu.be/um5p Taft, J. B. 2016. Are small, isolated prairie remnants smaller than they look and effectively getting smaller? Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 143(3):207-223. Taft, J.B., and Z.P. Kron. 2014. Evidence of species and functional group attrition in shrub-encroached prairie: implications for restoration. American Midland Naturalist 172: 252-265. Taft, J. B. and E. Smith. 2013. A field test of regeneration for an isolated population of Violet collinsia (Collinsia violacea). Ecological Restoration 31(1): 57-62.
Taft, J. B., and J. O. Dawson. 2011. Evidence for community structuring associated with the actinorhizal shrub Ceanothus americanus in tallgrass prairies in Illinois, USA. Functional Plant Biology 38:711-719. Taft, J. B., L. R. Phillippe, C. Dietrich, and K.R. Robertson. 2011. Grassland composition, structure, and diversity patterns along major environmental gradients in the Central Tien Shan. Plant Ecology 212: 1349-1361. Sivicek, V., and J. B. Taft. 2011. Functional Group Density as an index for assessing floristic integrity in tallgrass prairie. Ecological Indicators 11: 1251-1258. Taft, J. B. 2009. Effects of overstory stand density and fire on ground layer vegetation in oak woodland and savanna habitats. In: Hutchinson, T. F. (ed.). Proceedings of the 3rd Fire in Eastern Oak Forests Conference; 2008 May 20-22; Carbondale, IL. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-46. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service, Northern Research Station. Taylor, C., J. B. Taft, and C. Warwick, editors. 2009. Canaries in the Catbird Seat - The Past, Present, and Future of Biological Resources in a Changing Environment. Illinois Natural History Survey Special Publication 30. Champaign. Taft, J. B., C. Hauser, and K. R. Robertson. 2006. Estimating floristic integrity in tallgrass prairie. Biological Conservation 131:42-51. complete publications list (pdf) | ||||
| INHS Publink: http://wwx.inhs.illinois.edu/files/4513/8303/2094/29-10-2013_0234_669.pdf | ||||
| Program affiliates: Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and the Department of Plant Biology | ||||
| Professional society involvement and activities: | ||||
| Education: PhD, Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, 1999 | Lab name: | Lab research: | Lab publications: | Lab current projects: admin |