CHARLES W. LAFON

Associate Professor
Geography

Department of Geography
Texas A&M University
TAMU 3147
College Station, TX 77843-3147
Office: 706B Eller (O&M Bldg.) (map)
Phone: 979.862.3677
E-mail: clafon@geog.tamu.edu
Department Web page

Keywords: disturbance, succession, vegetation dynamics, fire ecology, fire history, insect outbreaks, treeline, temperate forests, herbivory, biogeography

Interests:
Dr. Lafon’s primary research interests are in vegetation dynamics and plant geography. He is interested in the consequences of natural and anthropogenic disturbances for vegetation structure, plant species composition, and biodiversity in forested landscapes. He also studies the interactions of terrain, climate, and vegetation that generate spatial patterns in disturbance regimes and vegetation characteristics. Most of his research focuses on vegetation dynamics of the Appalachian Mountains and other parts of eastern North America, and addresses forest disturbance by fire, ice storms (major freezing rain events), hurricanes, and insect outbreaks. He is collaborating with other EEB members (Cairns and Coulson) to investigate treeline dynamics in Sweden and insect outbreaks in the southeastern U.S. Dr. Lafon’s work relies primarily on fieldwork, including dendrochronology, but also involves simulation modeling. He teaches a graduate course in biogeography and undergraduate courses in introductory physical geography, regional climatology, biogeography, and field geography.

Disciplines: Community Ecology & Population Biology, Ecosystem & Landscape Ecology

Selected publications:

* indicates that co-author is a current or former TAMU student

Aldrich, S.R.*, Lafon, C.W., Grissino-Mayer, H.D., DeWeese, G.G., and Hoss, J.A.*  (2009)  Three centuries of fire in montane pine-oak stands on a temperate forest landscape.  Applied Vegetation Science, in press.

Cairns, D.M., Lafon, C.W., Waldron, J.D.*, Tchakerian, M.*, Coulson, R.N., Klepzig, K., Birt, A.G., and Xi, W.  (2008)  Simulating the reciprocal interaction of forest landscape structure and southern pine beetle herbivory using LANDIS.  Landscape Ecology, 23:403–415.

Lafon, C.W. and Grissino-Mayer, H.D.  (2007)  Spatial patterns of fire occurrence in the central Appalachian Mountains.  Physical Geography 28:1–20.

Cairns, D.M., Lafon, C., Moen, J., Young, A.*  (2007)  Influences of animal activity on treeline position and pattern: implications for treeline responses to climate change.  Physical Geography 28:419–433.

Lafon, C.W.  (2006)  Forest disturbance by ice storms in Quercus forests of the southern Appalachian Mountains, USA.  Écoscience 13:30–43.